Tried And Convicted
by P.A.R
Summary: The sequel to 'The Bonds That Tie'.
1. Default Chapter

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TRIED AND CONVICTED

By P.A.R.

A/N: Oh, dear heavens! It's a story with multiple chapters!

Yes, dears, I'm back. I have stories. Hopefully you have reviews.

Now, in relation to an answer I gave Unicorn Whisperer, let me give you some sort of idea what will be coming over the next several months.

Tried And Convicted is the first story to go up. The reason for that is because I wanted to wrap up some loose ends from The Bonds That Tie. Mostly where Sirius stood legally. Next comes Enemies, if I can ever get the bugger finished. That one is giving me more trouble than any other story I've done based on the fact that, one, it's a nearly total OC story, two, the relationships in it are very complexed, and three, the whole story is very.....intricate. I'd readily put Enemies up against audiaa2's Veracity for the 'Most Complex Story Plot Line' award any day. Next will be Runaway, which is currently a short little Katlin/Harry story (Ya'll remember Katlin? Our favorite little Deatheater from The Bonds That Tie.). Then Family Relations. Then a short break most likely (you remember P.A.R.'s vacation). Then Family Ties.

You'll notice the distinct lack of any time frames being mentioned this time. 

There's a reason for that. 

I stink at time estimates. 

It's just not fair for me to keep promising you guys when stories will be going up and then consistently missing the deadlines, no matter the reasons. So I've stopped promising these stories based on time lines. I simply promising they will go up. I just honestly can't say when. And I do apologize for constantly missing time frames and it seeming like I'm stringing you guys along. I'm really not. It's just that I plan stories to be short and then....well....., like this one. Tried And Convicted was suppose to be three to four chapters. NOT ten! And it takes a lot longer to post a ten chapter story than a four chapter one based on my posting schedule. This inevitably trickles down to making all the stories post later than I planned. Also, I didn't plan to put Runaway up until later. But for character reference reasons, it has to go up earlier then Family Relations. ('Character reference reasons' simply means that characters (or situations involving characters) are mentioned in a story that need some prior explanation, usually related to Family Relations.).

So, bare with me and hang in there. I will post these stories, I just can't say when.

Oh, and ignore the title. It only makes sense to me. If you're really that interested, ask. I'll be glad to explain.

Postings for this story will be on Sundays and Wednesdays. Barring, of course, unforeseen circumstances.

On with the story.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: All characters of the Harry Potter series (hereafter known as 'legal property') are the sole ownership of J.K. Rowling (hereafter known as 'owner of said legal property'). No infringement on any copyright of owner of said legal property of the legal property is knowing intended. Published by author (hereafter known as 'other') for entertainment purposes only. No monetary or personal gain was knowingly made by other with the publication of this story, which was based on ideas and characters created by owner of said legal property as they pertain to legal property. No plagiarism of legal property or of any ideas of the owner of said legal property was knowingly intended by other. This statement is fully transferable and is legally held binding for all chapters of the story Tried And Convicted as they are presented under different chapter headings and titles for individual chapters.

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Chapter One: First

The day started as pleasantly as one could expect considering the circumstances. Remus was walking down the street while a large black dog walked at his side. Both were tempering their pace to accommodate the small child who walked presently behind them, holding fast to the tail of the large dog.

Remus finally turned to the child as they approached the outskirts of the town. "Harry," He instructed the child, "keep up please."

Harry obediently quickened his pace while he shifted his position until he was now walking between Remus and the dog, one arm draped over the dog's back for balance.

Harry's development over the past few months had been astonishing. While he still remained an unusually quiet child, he was now walking about a great deal more, although he showed definite favoritism to going for walks with Padfoot as opposed to anyone else. But Remus suspected this had a lot to do with height more than anything else. 'Moony' was a bit short next to Harry when he was standing up. But Padfoot seemed just the right height. 

"You doing OK, Sirius?" Remus asked.

The dog looked up at him and whined.

"It'll be over by this afternoon." Remus promised. "Then we can go home and forget about all of this. You'll have your godson and a life free of the ministry. ANd I'm making stew tonight."

Padfoot whined softly again. Despite Remus' reassurances, and the promise of his favorite meal, Sirius couldn't help but be worried. Three weeks ago the ministry had, in a very long winded letter, explained that they were going to present Sirius' testimony under Veritaserum to a jury so that they could clear the matter up once and for all.

Sirius and Remus had both protested vehemently. The understanding was that Sirius was only wanted for questioning. Now he was going to trail for James and Lily's murderers?

But the ministry had explained to an irate Dumbledore, who had sheltered Sirius against the ministry with the promise Sirius would answer their questions eventually, that they only were looking to clear Sirius publicly, and the show of a trail would do that effectively for all involved. A 'simple trail', the ministry had called it. A formality. Just so everything was done legally.

Dumbledore had begrudgingly agreed, since he was held on his word of promising Sirius would appear before the ministry. Regardless of how the ministry had abused the wording.

Continuing down the road toward the ministry offices, Remus constantly kept watch about them for any trouble. He had insisted on apparating to a certain point and then walking the rest of the way to the offices when he noticed how nervous Sirius had seemed the last few days. He had hoped that if his friend had anything on his mind, that would be the opportunity to voice it, as well as give them some last minute strategy planning time. But Sirius had remained quiet the entire trip. His only distraction being Harry yanking on his tail. 

When they arrived, Sirius, now back in his human form, was taken by several Aurors to another area of the building while Remus and Harry were shown into the courtroom. The look on his friend's face as the ministry guards had led him off had worried Remus considerably. It wasn't just nervousness anymore. Sirius' expression as he handed Harry over to him had been one of pure fear. Remus had tried to reassure him one more time before they parted. Telling him he would be waiting for him with Harry after the trial was over. But the haunted, frightened look had never left Sirius' eyes as the guards led him away. 

The courtroom itself wasn't very imposing. It was very much, in fact, like a muggle courtroom. What Remus did not like was the amount of people present for this 'simple trial'. The seats behind the banister rail were positively packed with people. A few even stood in the back, stretching up to make sure they could see the front of the room. Most of the ones who sat in the first few rows had parchment and quills out. And most of those were already writing enthusiastically or speaking softly as the quills danced across the parchment, paraphrasing with a good deal of color what the person holding the parchment was saying. There was no jury present. The ministry had explained that in order to expedite the trail, and since Sirius would be testifying under Veritaserum, the judges seated to hear the evidence would decide the verdict.

Remus was led to a seat in the corner of the front row. A rush of whispers accompanied him as he took his seat, holding Harry in his lap.

For his part, Harry had gotten very quiet. Something Remus suspected had a great deal more to do with all the people around him than Harry's trying to be 'a good boy'.

For the next half hour, Remus did his best to keep Harry occupied. But the child was already starting to notice his favorite person was nowhere nearby and, while he had settled in well enough to accepting Remus' company almost as well, the fact remained that when Harry wanted Sirius, Harry wanted Sirius. 

Harry had started to figget and was getting more and more agitated when the door on the opposite side of the room opened, causing Remus to jump slightly. Six men filed in, all wearing robes trimmed in a rich velvet around the neck, sleeves, and trailing down the center in front. They all wore identical black sashes draped around their necks with the exception of one of them, who wore a sash of gold. Remus suspected this was the high judge, and was the one who would rule over the trial.

A door on the opposite side of the box the judges were filing into opened. Remus turned quickly to the sound, as did most of the attention in the courtroom. After a brief pause, Sirius was finally led into the courtroom. A wave of whispers rolled through the gathered crowd as a very stoic Sirius was led to a chair on a slightly raised platform that was surrounded by a banister rail. The chair was situated at the edge of the judges box, out in the open where he could readily be seen by most of the people gathered to hear the trail.

A loud banging of a gavel brought the whispers to a stop.

"Today," the judge with the gold sash around his shoulders began, "we are gathered to hear the testimony of Mr. Sirius Black in regards to the murders of James and Lily Potter, and the attempted murder of the child, Harry Potter."

Remus could hear the scratching of quills behind him. The sound positively grated on his nerves. But most of his attention was focused on his best friend. Harry's attention had shifted to all the new activity taking place around him. But as soon as his godfather appeared, the child fixed his attention solely on Sirius. 

As he was led into the chair and directed to take a seat, Sirius never once looked around him. He seemed, in fact, utterly oblivious to the hushed whispers, scratching quills, and rustling of parchment going on in the gallery next to him. Instead he sat in the chair facing forward. His whole body posture as ridged as a military cadet on inspection. His eyes never moved from staring at the wall before him. Even when Harry, on seeing his godfather led into the courtroom, happily cried out 'Pafoot!' before Remus could stop him. But a whispered rush of giggles were the only answer the child got. Sirius didn't so much a turn to his godson as he was led past where they sat and was directed to his own chair.

"Very well." The judge in the gold sash announced formally. "As that Mr. Green, as the ministries resident expert on questioning of defendants under Veritaserum could not be present today, the ministries potions master, Avery Trennerson, will be directing the questioning of Mr. Black."

Remus watched as a small man entered the courtroom. The small bald spot on the top of his head of brown hair reflected the over head lights. To Remus the man looked decidedly unfriendly. Moving almost as rigidly as Sirius was sitting in his chair, he approached the judges and bowed low before them.

The high judge tilted his head slightly in response.

"Very well, Mr. Trennerson." The judge told him. "You may begin."

Remus thought the diminutive man turned on Sirius with all the subtlety of a shark turning on it's prey. The man had a flat black folder-type book in his hands which he opened and scanned for a few seconds before turning his attention back to Sirius, snapping the book closed again as he did so. 

"Mr. Black," Trennerson began, "were you the Potter's secretkeeper?"

"Yes."

Remus' head snapped up from having momentarily turned to watch Harry playing in his lap. He didn't even remember later hearing the tidal wave of whispers break out behind him or the frantic scratching of the quills as Trennerson seemed to pause momentarily for effect before asking the next question. When Remus had asked Sirius that very question a few days before, Sirius had denied that he had been James and Lily's secretkeeper. Although he had refused outright to tell Remus who had been the secretkeeper, or to say why he wouldn't divulge who the person was, he had sworn to Remus that it had not been him. That at the last moment he and James and Lily had decided mutually to chose someone else due to the fact that Sirius was far to obvious a choice.

"You were their secretkeeper?" The man before Sirius rephrased the question so it was now more of a statement for Sirius to agree to or deny. 

"Yes." Came the same, dulled answer.

The man went on with his questions without hesitation. "Mr. Black, did you betray James and Lily's location to the dark lord?"

The answer, though delivered with a seconds hesitation, was as blunted as the others, despite the commotion it caused. 

"Yes."

Remus sat in stunned silence. His attention almost fully fixed on Sirius as the court room exploded again with voices whispering around him and several reporters now running for the doors behind them to quickly dispatch owls.

The man before Sirius waited patiently for the courtroom to quiet down.

"Mr. Black," he asked carefully, as though making sure everything he said was fully understood by the man seated before him, "did you answer the last question truthfully?"

"Yes." Sirius answered dully.

"Is there any reason for you to lie about the answer to that question?"

Sirius paused. An act that seemed to slightly fluster the man standing before him.

"Mr. Black," Trennerson repeated, "is there any reason for you to lie about the answer to that question?"

Sirius hesitated slightly again. "No." He answered finally.

Remus knew the reason for the question and why it was asked in the manner it was. Sometimes, the person answering questions was coerced into giving certain answers. Someone may have placed a spell on them before hand, forcing them to answer questions about certain matters in only one way. Although rare, since the magic involved in fighting the effects of Veritaserum was so difficult to perform and make work correctly, the possibility had to be properly ruled out.

"You were their secretkeeper?"

"Yes."

"You betrayed them to the dark lord."

"Yes."

"You conspired in their murderers?"

"Yes."

The man paused as though he were considering the next question.

"Mr. Black," he asked carefully, "are you a Deatheater?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Black, do you bare the Dark Mark on your arm?"

"No."

The courtroom exploded into a buzz of hushed whispers again. The judges quickly called for silence.

The judge with the gold sash leaned over the front of the box. "Why does the defendant not bare the Dark Mark if he is a Deatheater, Mr. Trennerson?"

"It has long been suspected, your honor," Trennerson explained, "that Mr. Black is, in fact, a member of the dark lord's Elite. This is a very select group of the dark lord's followers. So select, that many of them no longer even refer to themselves as Deatheaters. They are simply the 'Elite'. The members of this group are not required to be branded with the Dark Mark, though several of them choose to. The fact that Mr. Black admits to being a Deatheater but does not bare the Dark Mark proves his affiliation with this group within the dark lord's followers."

The judge seemed to consider the answer, then settled back in his chair as the man began his questioning again.

"Mr. Black, did anyone else outside of the dark lord's followers have a part in the plot?"

Sirius started to answer the question, but abruptly stopped.

Remus, who had had his attention focused solely on Sirius and each answer he gave, turned his attention to the man asking the questions. The man looked.......the only word Remus had for the expression was stunned. In fact, Remus didn't think the man could have looked more confused suddenly than if Sirius had stood up just then and started to sing a bar song.

"Mr. Black," the man said again, phrasing the question very carefully, "was there anyone else outside of the dark lord's followers part of the plot to kill James and Lily Potter?"

Again Sirius started to answer the question. 

And again he stopped.

One of the trail judge's leaned over the bench.

"Why doesn't he answer?" The judge asked.

Trennerson looked very nervous, but finally seemed to gather something of his wits about him again.

"It is likely due to the fact that Mr. Black himself is not actually a Deatheater par se, your honor." The man answered. "Therefore, he, himself, was not one of the dark lord's followers. The question is asking if he knows of anyone else outside of the dark lord's followers, or the Deatheaters, who might have had a part in the plot to murder the Potters. But Mr. Black sees himself as someone outside the dark lord's followers, or the Deatheaters. But the question is does he know of anyone else. So the question is causing a bit of trouble, you see."

The judge frowned. "Not really."

"Questions under Veritaserum have to be phrased very carefully, your honor." The man replied. "This one simply wasn't worded correctly. I do apologize. But really, I think that is all the evidence that needs to be heard. The man has answered the questions under Veritaserum, your honor." The man continued, turning again to the judges. "There can be no doubt we have finally heard the truth about the incidents surrounding the murderers of James and Lily Potter."

Another of the judges looked down from his seat on the raised platform. "Can Mr. Black state 'why' he did such a thing?" The man asked.

The man looked thoughtful for a moment. "My understanding, your honor," he replied smoothly, "was that the ministry was only interested in whether or not Mr. Black had anything to do with the Potter's murders, not 'why'. And as I've stated and you yourselves have seen, each question under Veritaserum has to be asked in a manner as that there is little room left for interpretation by the person being questioned. I would require another day....or more.... to list my questions to put to Mr. Black if you would wish to pursue that line of questioning."

The judge seemed to consider the suggestion of dragging out the questioning, then shook his head. "Mr. Black will have plenty of time in Azkaban to consider if he would like to ever explain that to us." The judge turned to his colleagues. "The judges will reconvene here tomorrow with a verdict."

As the judges left the room, Remus was snapped out of his stupor by Harry suddenly wiggling about in his lap. As he looked up, the guards were taking Sirius out of the courtroom as well. Remus watched as Sirius walked by him. But his long time friend didn't even acknowledge him. He walked right past Remus, ignoring even his godson, who reached out and grabbed his robe, holding onto it for dear life.

"Da!" He cried loudly.

One of the guards grabbed the child's wrist and wretched it away from the cloth.

"Let go." He snapped forcefully at Harry.

Remus quickly pulled Harry back and held him tightly against him as the child started to cry.

Sirius never turned once to look at his godson. His stare remained glazed and fixed in front of him.

Remus watched the small procession until they had led Sirius completely out of view.

It wasn't until a sniffing, frustrated Harry hit him solidly on the arm that Remus seemed to come back to the things around him. Looking about he saw a now nearly empty courtroom with only a few people left in the seats talking rapidly about the trial.

Getting to his feet unnoticed with Harry in his arms, Remus headed quickly out of the courtroom. As soon as he was a short distance down the road, but far enough away from the town not to be seen, he disapparated.

Q&A

You know the routine. You've had yours. Now I get mine.

Family Life

Mihoshe: Of course, Dear. Feel free to post it at your site. As long as I'm given credit, I'm honored to have others want to put my stories on their websites.

Lotesse: Read but haven't reviewed! Why of all the........*P.A.R. stops, noticing Unicorn Whisperer standing to the side tapping her foot and looking stern.*........Ummmmm. Oh! Look! A review! P.A.R. is soooooooooooooo happy! Lotesse is not like the some other people who willingly admit that they are BAD people for not reviewing stories they have read, but beg leniency due to time restrains.

Whereas I would agree the scene hit the ground running and I have indeed admonished (gently) other writers for doing this very thing, it worked for me.

I have not seen the last two Star Wars movies, but I am trying. As for how the mighty have fallen, I think of dear Ms. Rowlings and the fact that we have yet to see hide or hair of book five and I get shudders down my spine. All too often a writer puts out a book that suddenly takes off and their career is secured. They promise the book is a long running sequel and that they have the whole story laid out and just need to 'flesh it out'. Bu then, for whatever reason, they get bored with the whole project, would rather be off doing something else, and the last parts of the series are less then the quality of the first parts. I do hope that doesn't happen with Rowlings' story.

Should Harry have an adverse reaction to portkeys since the last one he touched was the Triwizards Cup? I should think so! Just look at what happened there! And granted, maybe he should have run from the thing screaming. But he's also kind of busy right there to be focusing too much on any one thing. After all, he's not sure who just apparated him away from his safe(?) home.

Awwww, NUTS! Spelling police again? And I still have all those old unpaid spelling tickets in my trunk! But the lights are very pretty.

Due to my utter lack of mastery of the English language, Dear, what exactly is wrong with 'Strike One'? Unless it actually appears in the story uncapitalized.

Strike Two.....yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Your, You're. I'm forever getting them mixed up.

Actually, I really liked the last line in the second chapter. I couldn't find a better place to end that scene.

Sirius would be more than happy to pick up where he left off with Arabella. After all, he was going to marry the woman. But it has been fourteen years. He has no idea where things stand between them. Nor does he have any explanation for why she 'never wrote to him' while he was in Azkaban.

As for Arabella obviously being informed of his innocence? I don't remember if I put that in the story of not. But just for the sake of putting things right, Arabella wanted very badly to believe in Sirius' innocence and she never completely believed that he was guilty of any of the things people said. But 'informed' of his innocence? No. SHe was never told for sure.

Sirius is trying to be on speaking terms, and he's getting a very cold shoulder. But the reason for that was explained in a later chapter. 

Avoiding each other? Again, Sirius is trying his utmost to be friendly and 'test the waters' as it were. Currently he's finding the temperature just above freezing. 

They're not avoiding each other out of any misguided feelings of professionalism. Arabella simply doesn't want to spend any time in his company. But she's trying to be civil to him for Harry's sake.

That line is perhaps a little out of place. But I'm the first one to say that whole chapter read a little stilted. I was trying to sort through the emotions Harry would be feeling at that moment. Take into consideration all he's been through in the space of likely less than thirty minutes. The poor kid's got to have stripped some emotional gears as fast as his feelings must be changing in that scene.

All those scene's beginning the same way. Hmmmm, I never noticed that before.

Personally, I see Harry as an emotionally starved individual. And I tend to write him as willingly and happily accepting any affection he can get. (And just as a side note, I want to put in here to any and all who read these things, that 'no', that has nothing to do with how Harry reacts to a certain character in Family Relations. So don't go there with me.)

I always looked at that situation this way. Lily must have seen James over the summer holidays. Sirius and James were always together. Petunia MUST have met Sirius. She was a teenage girl once. He was a teenage boy. James was seeing Lily. You work it out.

And yes, yes, she probably hated magic even back then. But it was a cute idea, so I ran with it.

*P.A.R. looks about fearfully.* You're SURE there are no spelling police coming? Anyway, as a practicing godparent myself, I can well tell you I have no concept of the word 'no' where my godchild is concerned.

HEY! Come on, Lotesse! That's a GREAT plot device! Heaven knows it's been used enough, so it must work, right?

But seriously, thank you. I'm pleased beyond words that you like Arabella. Especially since she's in all three stories of this series and her relationship with Sirius figures rather prominently in all of them. Especially in Family Relations.

Regarding how Sirius broke Arabella's status to Harry.....well, Harry ask a question. Sirius answered it. And true, subtlety is not poor Sirius longsuit. 

Ummmmmm, these pictures your mentioned of Sirius snogging. Is this....ahhhhhh.......an imagination thing? Or.....ummmmmm......do they ACTUALLY exist somewhere? *Be a good reviewer. Tell P.A.R. where the pictures are.*

About Harry's not telling Arabella what he's up to in trying to contact Sirius. You place most of that on the fact that Harry's still not really comfortable with Arabella. After all, he literally only just met her, and knows practically nothing about her or how she'll react to things. And he's already gotten a healthy dose of how she feels about Siruus. She all but kicked him out of her house. That and he doesn't want to hurt her feelings.

I'm just thrilled you like Arabella so much. Most readers did respond well to her, but some did not.

I try desperately not to write Harry as perfect and doing no wrong. He's a teenager, for heavens sake. And to top it off, he's tasting freedom for the first time. Granted, the kid's got more sense than most, but he's still gonna wanna test those wings now and then. Hence the whole Diagon Alley thing. But we're not there yet, are we?

Yeah, I like 'Retroactively' too. Mostly because half the people I say it to don't know what it means and it sounds very intimidating.

You had to have some snogging in this. After all, poor Sirius and Arabella have been apart for fourteen years.

Harry's adjustment to having a 'mother figure' kind of comes in later. He's actually trying to work with the idea that for the first time in his memory, he has a mother and a father figure in his life. And all the good and bad that goes with it.

Awwwwww. P.A.R. is glad she is missed. Nothing touches a writers heart like mone.......ahhhhh, knowing she's missed. Thank you.

Harry is lying about his dreams due to their content. That being that in them, for all intents and purposes, it seems that Arabella is attacked and possibly killed by Voldemort. And Harry knows his dreams sometimes do come true, but not always. Basically, he doesn't want to worry Arabella and Sirius needlessly.

I have no idea where the idea of Sirius staying with Harry as Padfoot came from. Some people liked it, others had issues with it, and in fairness, I could see their point, sort of. But I'm with you. Nothing gives me comfort like having my little cat sleeping on the pillow above my head and the other sleeping by my feet. Heaven!

Chapter eleven will, as I have often said, hold a special place in my heart. IT was where I started writing Harry Potter Fanfictions. Literally, this was the first thing I ever wrote and Family Life developed from this one chapter.

The fact that Harry is always walking in on them (well, almost always), is sort of a running joke throughout the story.

The reason Family Life has no Author's Notes (or Q&A) is because I posted this story all at once. That's right, all forty-nine chapters in one day. I had no idea my stories would get so popular or that I would start doing those often long, complicated things called Authors Notes and Q&A. The fact of the matter is, I regret deeply posting Family Life as I did and had I to do it over, I would have posted it one chapter at a time.

Harry was indeed looking at Wormtail from a distance. The rest you can just account to the fact that one, he was tired of shopping half the day, and two, he was eager to see his friend. You over look obvious things when you want to see something badly enough.

The leather jacket I kind of thought was funny. It was actually poking a little fun at the fact that most of the fanfictions I read that have Sirius in them have him in leather of some sort. This story actually has a lot of inside jokes in it. And a lot of them, to my surprise, were caught.

*P.A.R. is happily walking along one day when suddenly a nasty plot hole opens in front of her and she walks right into it.*

Actually, no, Arabella doesn't know about Peter. How could she? Sirius went to Azkaban almost immediately according to canon. He never wrote to her and she had no contact with him at all. Now, why didn't Sirius tell her his suspicions before that? Keeping in mind that Sirius had only suspicions that Peter had told Voldemort where James and Lily were. For all he knew for sure, Voldemort had tortured it out of the little rat. Granted, he sure seemed to go after him like he had proof, but we were never told that for sure. O.K., so, why is she snogging on the sofa with a man who may have killed her best friend? Because she doesn't believe it. She never did. And seeing Harry and Sirius together, she can't ever believe Sirius would have done anything to hurt his godson. But I'll stand and take my medicine like an adult. (Though I'd rather stand in the corner and clamp my lips shut like a child.) Yes, this absolutely should have been spelled out better in the story. Somewhere Sirius needed to explain to Arabella what happened that night, and when I take Family Life down for revisions, I may attempt to incorporate it. Although as I think about it, it would seriously alter the plot and may just have to be one of those things that never got corrected.

For the Deatheaters getting by the ministry. They get just a little leeway here. They just apparated into a scene of confusion. People are running about, curses are flying about the alleyway. People are nearly trampling them, and the little rat is screaming 'Sirius Black' at the top of his lungs. Who would you go for?

In regards to Madeye Moody, keep in mind that as far as we know, Dumbledore didn't know Sirius was innocent either until Book Three. After that, when would Dumbledore have told Moody, and why? And how would he have proved it to the age-old Auror? It would have been just his word. Granted, that carries a lot of weight, but still, it's a lot to accept that someone who spent twelve years in prison for crimes they were convicted of was actually innocent. I also didn't want Dumbledore just 'running to the rescue', as it were. Everything's going wrong, Dumbledore shows up, explains everything, and everyone is happy again. I wanted Moody believing Sirius based on some hard, cold facts. Things he would have derived out of the situation as a whole. I also see Moody very much as a person who needs solid proof. Not hearsay.

Yes, I have been admonished quite a bit for making Harry cry way too easily in this story. But the kid's going through a lot. Sometimes it doesn't take a lot to push you to tears. Past that, chalk it up to my anguish-loving nature. In fact, one of the things I have against the books is that he never seems to cry. Even at things that would reduce the most hardened adult to tears. GoF drove me crazy. The kid stood right next to someone as they were killed. I don't know many fourteen year olds that would have handled that as well as he seemed to. Rowling repressed Harry's emotions so much in those last chapters I could have screamed. I desperately wanted to see the poor child break into tears in Sirius' arms when he woke up in the hospital wing. What did I get? Diddle! And when Harry met Sirius again for the first time face to face in GoF. What was his reaction? Hi. How are you? 

Please! Give me anguish. Give me hugs. Give me tears and lots of 'I missed you's'. The kid showed more emotion in the letters he wrote to Sirius than when he met him face to face again.

*P.A.R. climbs down off her soapbox.* O.K., I'm done now.

So, yes, Harry gets to run rampant and free with his emotions in my stories.

Lily of the Valley: Twenty seconds? Heavens, a speed reader! Just what I need. Well, you should be through this story in about an hour then.

Glad you like Arabella.

Pensives are good.

Sirius and Arabella get married and Harry gets to live with them? Boy, you don't know me very well. That would be way too easy. Catch Family Relations when it comes out. As much as I like Arabella, I have to say she has a long way too go before she could replace Sirius in Harry's life. Harry likes her well enough. But he has only just met her.

As for The Bonds That Tie, many people seemed to miss that yes, Harry was crying because his scar was hurting him. Glad you caught that.

Diamond

Kri: Thank you for reviewing, and I'm glad you liked the story. The whole story actually revolved around the last scene. Hence, the title.

Siriusly Bored

Lin-z: Whereas I don't have a lot of time to review, I do try to do it when I can. But time restrains do make it difficult sometimes. Glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you for thinking of my father. We're all very pleased in the family to have him doing so well.

Mayleesa: Thank you. And thanks for the belated birthday wishes. Of course, my father doing so well was the best present of all. Thank you again.

Elizabeth Bathory: I'm glad you enjoy my Baby Harry stories. However, I will always recommend The Unicorn Whisperer to anyone who likes stories of this type. Cute, fuzzy like little bunnies stories that have Sirius in them with Harry as a baby. Her stories are great and enjoyable reads.

Karla: I'm impressed! I get welcomed back before you even read the story? P.A.R. is very impressed! Thank you!

And thank you for thinking of my father and the birthday wishes. Due to the outcome of the circumstances, it was, indeed, a very happy birthday.

Corina (Mako) Borsuk: Yup! Sirius and Remus came off very well together in this story.

Uni!

Hey Uni! What's up! 

Well, your stories must have something going for them. I just recommended you to Elizabeth Bathory for some good Sirius/Baby Harry stories. And I don't recommend stories I think are a waste of time. Which yours definitely are NOT.

Didn't you just LOVE the first chapter of Tried And Convicted? I did warn people about this story.

When will the upcoming stories be posted? Well, Tried And Convicted should run the next five weeks or so. Next should be Enemies, which, due to certain relationships in the story is giving me a lot of trouble. After that I'm betting on Runaway being out next. That's a short Katlin/Harry story. It sort of figures in with Family Relations, so it has to go up first. Then Family Relations, and finally Family Ties. 

You'll notice there were no dates given. See the Author's notes for the reason there.

Somehow I doubt James ever made it to the strip club.

Four stars and two thumbs up!? I think that's the best rating I've ever got!

Nicky: Well, lets face it. Would YOU want to anger Lily? Like Sirius said; she won't kill you, but she will probably hurt you a lot. Never anger an overprotective mother, folks.

I'm glad you're looking forward to meeting Orion Black. He is definitely one interesting character. And his wife is pretty interesting too.

Well, Tried And Convicted is definitely going to be twice a week. The rest I don't know about yet.

Silverfox: Well, as I just said in Unicorn Whisperer's answer, somehow I don't think poor old James ever got to go tot the strip club. So Remus and Sirius were stuck paying for their own drinks.

Orion and Snape are most definitely not friends. But then, Orion doesn't exactly work and play well with others. But neither does Snape.

Jon's Sunshine + Rupert's Princess: Yup. P.A.R. is back cranking out those stories. What can I say. Vacation got boring. Missed my reviews.

summersun: GOLD STAR! Yes, indeed! You've won the first one on my return from vacation. Why? Kind of a strange reason really. But you never really know why I'll give these things out. The reason is you asked how long it takes me to write Q&A. Man, I've been waiting for someone to wonder about that! Well, generally, if I'm just answering for one chapter, it takes about two to three hours. The one at the end of Siriusly Bored, because I was writing for several months of questions over several stories, it took about three to five hours. For some reason, this time it took me about five hours. Not sure why.

Somehow I see Remus going along more or less just to keep Sirius company. Probably end up reading a book.

Storyspindler: Try not to laugh out loud in a computer lab, Dear. People will stare.

Hope you're enjoying the story.

Zimmy Russell: They won't let you review? Why is Fanfiction.net being mean to you, Dear?

Thank you for thinking of my father. He is, indeed, doing very well.

Nice to see you back as well. 

Karla (kkramano@ig.com.br): I have two Karla's now, so I have to differentiate. THANK YOU for liking the 'tail conversation'. I was beginning to wonder if people understood what Sirius was eluding to there.

PadfootProngs: Glad you liked the story. I'll try to get over to yours. But as I always tell people, unfortunately my time is very limited and I don't get to read half of what I would like to.

Jake: I appreciate the review. Thank you. Whereas I try to read other peoples stories and do a review on them, time does not always permit. At this point I have to tell people I am behind on the reviewing list right now.

Essence of Magic: Hey! Kentucky! Part of my family is from Kentucky! Didn't go to a lot of camps. Went camping a lot though. Does that count?

As you can see from the list above in the Author's Notes, Family Relations is a 'bit' behind schedule. I'm not even promising a release date anymore. So just call me 'Rowling' and be done with it. (And look, I'm even giving you stories inbetween to keep you entertained, just like 'someone' else.).

Thanks for thinking of my father. He is doing very well and should be just fine, his doctor says.

Why do you get to start school August 21st? Everyone here in central Florida is going back the first part of August.

Lotesse: Oh, dear. *sigh.* The woman with her spelling police again.

Well, yes, 'behind' schedule, I'm afraid. But if you check the Author's Notes you see I'm giving you plenty to keep you entertained while you wait. Give me some credit. Come on. I'm not being mean, am I?

Girl, do you take Advanced English classes or something? Oh, no. Wait. You read a lot. 'Recalcitrant'? I even had to look that one up! Heavens! Where do you find these words? P.A.R. is impressed!

Why didn't you think of that? Because despite that I constantly complain about not having enough time to get things done, there are the rare, but every-so-often days, when P.A.R. has WAY too much time on her hands. On those days, I think up stuff like this. But the whole 'Remus thing' just seemed logical to me based pretty much on what you said.

lilahp: Thank you for thinking of my father. And indeed, the most important thing to me is that he is doing well.

Short!? I think this topped out as one of my longest one-shots!

What is not cute about Sirius?

I don't know how 'interesting' Peter is as a character, but he certain is one that, in retrospect stories, can not be ignored. He was, after all, a Marauder. He was part of the group. And James and Lily thought enough of him to make him their secretkeeper. Granted, most people would like to see him spend the rest of his life as a perpetual motion cat toy for Crookshanks, but in this story he was still one of the Marauders in good faith. He's not even written in this story as thinking of going over to Voldemort. He's just 'Wormtail' in this story.

If Peter was willing to betray people he had been friends with for seven years, I doubt he had much trouble handing over a baby to be killed that he knew for a little over a year.

I'm sure Rowling will eventually put in the story what caused Peter to betray his best friends.

Actually, I've been spending a bit of time over at FictionAlley.com. It is a very nice site and I may start posting some of my stories there. I think Family Life was already requested by someone else to be posted there by them, which, as long as they keep my name on it, is fine with me.

Sorry, no Star Trek novels. Some of my friends write for them though. They pay well. Unfortunately, I have to say that I don't read books on writing. I read books, and that is honestly where you are going to learn about how to write. By reading others work. I highly recommend at least one creative writing class, but more for esthetics than learning to write. I mean, I've always stood by the premise that you can either write or you can't. And nothing in this world is going to 'make' you a writer. I don't care how many books on it you read or how many classes you take or how many professionals you talk to. The spark has to be there to begin with. You have to love to write. Look at me. I spend HOURS doing this stuff? For what? Money? No. Fame? Not yet. Bored? Sometimes. But overall I do it because I simply love to write and have been doing it for close to if not over three decades now. Have I gotten a lot published? Some. But that was never the goal for me. I just wanted to create something that was mine. 

Man, up on the soapbox for the second time today. *P.A.R. climbs down and puts the soapbox away.* Sorry.

Three beginnings is not good, Dear. I've found you only really need one. But I'm with you on that writing thing. I'm great at starts. Great at ends. I stink at middles.

Unfortunately, no, the job thing is still very much up in the air and getting worse with each passing day. But there is still hope, and I'll cling to that, thank you very much.

Now, that last comment.....that either deserves a 'thank you', or an 'oh, rats, I have competition for the ghost-writer job!', depending on which of us you're thinking of for the job. I'd gladly take it myself. I still hold out hope that one day Warner Brothers will realize what a little cash cow they have here for publishing fanfictions and start putting out books. I mean, Star Trek does it, as well as Star Wars and several television shows. Come on, Warner Brothers!

Cassandra Rettop: Thank you very much. And, no, Siriusly Bored was a one-shot and only has one chapter.

All About Me: Cute name, by the way. And thank you. I'm glad you liked it.

Abby: Ummmmm, you seem to have some problem with the thought of Remus in a strip club.

Honestly, he's probably only going to keep Sirius company.

Thanks for asking about my father. And I'm glad your family member is doing well also. It is truly amazing what physical therapists can do for victims of a stroke. They do great work.

The gift is gratefully received.

UnrepentantReader: Thanks for thinking about my father. I appreciate everyone who asked or sent well-wishes. My family is very blessed in his recovery.

I'm guessing TDL is 'the dark lord'? True, Peter was with Harry. But Remus and Sirius were right there as well. Even trying to make something look like an accident would have been hard. And besides, Peter likely was around Harry a lot as a child, yet the kid survived without any attacks for fifteen months. So Peter probably missed LOTS of chances.

Thanks for the review.

Reviews are as of 08072002. If I missed you, please say something. Again, I'm trying to get to reviews as quickly as I can. If I promised you a review and have not done so yet, please tell me. Uni, you don't need to say anything. You're next. 

And just remember the man who was praying one day, ask, 'Dear Lord, I've never asked for anything, but if you let me win this TV, I'll ask for a lot more stuff because then I'll know it works'.

See you on Wednesday. 


	2. Chapter Two: Blind Faith

A/N: Just a quick note here, people. You do realize that Tried And Convicted is a unique story in and of itself? This is the first of my stories that I've written that was done purely due to reader request. I had no intention whatsoever of sequeling The Bonds That Tie. This story exists only because you asked for it.

So, if you ever wonder do I listen to you and take your requests seriously, I happily direct you to the next chapter.

Enjoy.

****

Tried And Convicted

****

CHAPTER TWO: BLIND FAITH

Remus sat silently before Albus Dumbledore's large desk in the Headmaster's office. Remus had left the trial and headed right for Hogwarts to report what had happened. Not much to his surprise, Dumbledore was already aware of the trial's proceedings. As was Remus sure was half of the wizarding world by now. The Daily Prophet had probably put out a special edition just for the trail results. 

"Well?" Remus asked after a long time in which Dumbledore had sat quietly behind his desk with his fingers steepled in front of him. "What do you think?"

Dumbledore remained quiet for a few more moments. "Let me ask you the same question, Remus." He said finally. "What is it you think?"

"Me?"

"Yes. You know Sirius better than anyone most likely. Do you think what he said was the truth?"

"But Albus," Remus said carefully, "he was under Veritaserum. He couldn't have lied."

"You're not answering the question, Remus." Dumbledore said kindly. "Do you think..., or better, do you believe what Sirius said was the truth?"

Remus almost answered immediately, repeating his last statement. But he stopped himself, pausing for a minute to think over the events again. 

Finally he turned a resolute stare to the Headmaster. "No, Sir." He replied. "I do not."

"Why?"

Remus paused again as he considered an answer. But this time none came to him. Finally he just shook his head. "I'm sorry, Albus Call it 'blind faith' if you have to. But I just can't believe Sirius could ever have done that to James and Lily. And never to Harry. He loved all three of them like they were his own family. And he's just wild about his godson. Always has been. I will never believe Sirius was involved in what happened to James and Lily."

"And you, Remus," Dumbledore replied, "are likely one of the best judges of human nature I have ever met. And I will call it 'blind faith', if you don't mind. But it is what most things in the world are based on and more often than not it seems to be right. So I think we need to look at this situation from now on from that point of view."

Remus studied the old wizard for a moment. "Sirius lied." He said flatly.

"Yes."

"But why would he lie?"

"That, Mr. Lupin, is what we need to find out."

"Albus, he was under Veritaserum...."

"So you keep saying. And I think that is the best place to start."

"Start?"

"How do you know it was Veritaserum?"

Remus thought for a moment. Dumbledore had a very good point. He didn't know that for sure.

"Well?" Dumbledore prompted.

"It would have been administered in front of witnesses, Albus."

"Who were...?"

"Well, people from the minis........"

"Ministry." Dumbledore finished for him as Remus' voice trailed off. "And they have no stake at all in seeing Sirius convicted."

Remus gave Dumbledore a skeptical look. "But...., Albus, you're talking about their knowingly convicting an innocent man."

Dumbledore smiled slightly at the man before him. "I wouldn't be so fast to say 'knowingly'." He replied. "I would tend to say 'overenthusiastically' perhaps."

"Overenthusiastically?"

"The ministry believes Sirius is guilty. With the same conviction, most likely, that you believe him innocent. All they lack is a confession. Or, in other words, 'proof'."

"So, they gave Sirius something other than Veritaserum." Remus suddenly sat up in his chair. "Albus, if that's true, we need to get to Sirius. Have a medi-wizard check him. That's the only way we can prove any of this."

Dumbledore waved Remus down. "Calm down, Remus. Sirius isn't going anywhere just yet. You yourself said the jury would be out until tomorrow. He's safe where he is for now. I think first we would do well to listen to what an expert has to say on the subject."

Remus was about to question who they could go to for such an evaluation. But Dumbledore already had his wand pointed at the fire in his office.

"Professor Snape. A moment of your time, if you could."

Remus frowned. "Snape? He's hardly an expert."

"Severus was the best potions student in his year, Remus. The best this school has ever seen, in fact. He didn't get the position he's in because I just needed someone to teach potions. There were numerous applications for that position when it came open. I hired the best candidate."

"But, Albus......." Remus began. But a flare from Dumbledore's office fire cut him off. The merry little fire blazed to life suddenly. But just as quickly its happy enthusiasm seemed to burn out as a tall figure in black robe materialized within the flames. With all the air of a man who had just had the most important moment of his life interrupted by some trivial matter, Severus Snape stepped into the Headmaster's office.

"You called." Snape asked in a voice that positively dripped with loathing. Something Remus couldn't understand at all. Of all people, Snape had no reason at all to resent the old wizard.

"It wasn't a 'call', Severus." Dumbledore replied with a pleasant enough smile. "It was simply a request of some of your time."

"I wasn't aware anyone made requests of me anymore." Snape bit off the words as he spoke them. But before he said anything further, his eyes suddenly found Remus. "What is he doing here?" He asked, his tone switching to something that tried to sound like hatred, but utterly missed the mark.

"Severus," Dumbledore said kindly, indicating the other chair in front of his desk, "if you would be so kind. We have need of your expertise, please."

Snape seemed to consider the old wizard's words. Remus swore he could practically see the battle going on behind the coal black eyes. The man wanted nothing more than to leave. But his pride had been dragged in the formula, and that was something nearly impossible for him to walk away from. And thankfully, this time, he didn't. 

Snape slowly seated himself in the chair, notably moving it a few inches further from Remus' as he took a seat in it. Once he was settled, he wrapped his long thin fingers about the front of the arms of the chair and fixed his attention on Dumbledore, but said nothing.

"We have a small matter in which we need your opinion, Severus." Dumbledore explained, keeping his tone conversational. One listening would have thought he was about to do no more than discuss the weather for the day and ask Snape if he agreed with it. "Remus is going to explain the circumstances to you, and I would like very much to hear your opinion of them."

Snape turned slowly to the man sitting next to him.

Remus could practically feel the hatred. Some days were better than others between them. There were days when Snape was almost sociable to him. Actually talk to him. But then there were days like now. When Snape had been the recipient of a perfectly horrible day and he was just looking for someone to blame for it. An honor that fell, usually, all too easily on Remus. The ever amiable, ever convenient target of Snape's bad moods. But perhaps that was but another testimony to their friendship, no matter how tentative it seemed at times. As strange as it was, Snape seemed to feel comfortable doing the one thing in front of Remus he did in front of no other person. Bare his frustrations out in the open. He had gone as far as to rant and rave and scream his lungs out in front of him. But one thing Remus had always taken a keen notice of, was that the worse his mood was, the less of it was focused directly at him. On really bad days it seemed to Remus, Snape simply wanted an audience. Someone to hear how badly life had treated him in that particular twenty-four hour period. Or maybe he just wanted someone to care. 

Which ever the reason, Remus seemed the one he sought out most regularly at the end of his worse days.

Remus always knew when it was going to be a bad encounter with his one-time friend. It would start with an invitation to afternoon tea. And even knowing what he was likely in for, Remus always obligingly went. He somehow couldn't bring himself to deny Snape his sole outlet for his frustrations. Better him, Remus thought to himself, then some poor hapless student who would inadvertently add too much powdered dragon's scales to a potion and end up with something they had to call in the magical hazardous waste disposal unit to get rid of. And Remus actually, in a manner, enjoyed watching Snape let off a little steam once in a while. It proved to him that somewhere under all that black material and stoic expression, his friend still existed. A bit older, a bit wiser, a bit more jaded perhaps. But still there.

And Snape was looking like he had had a very bad day.

Definitely an 'afternoon tea' sort of looking day, Remus thought t himself as he met the potion master's loathing stare.

"Well?" He stated slowly.

"Sirius...."

That was as far as Remus got. Snape was out of his chair at the mention of the man's name.

"This involves Black!" He nearly shouted. "You want my opinion of Black?" Snape leaned over the side arm of Remus' chair. "Trust me, werewolf! You won't like it."

"Severus!" Dumbledore met his tone. "Sit down!"

Remus had pulled back from the man. He knew better than to let himself be pulled into Snape's anger, which was so palatable to the wolf in him, it wasn't an easy thing not to do. But pulling away from it, physically and mentally, helped.

'He has a right to be angry.' Remus told himself sternly. 'He has a right to hate Sirius. He always has and he always will. Others just get pulled into the picture.'

Snape backed slowly away from Remus and returned to his seat. After a few more seconds, he turned his eyes back to Dumbledore. 

"My apologies, Headmaster." He said coolly. "But if this has anything to do with Sirius Black, I am afraid you have wasted you're time. For I have no intention of helping that.....man get out of whatever he has gotten himself into this time."

"And is there any harm in listening, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, though his tone didn't leave much maneuvering for an answer.

Snape turned again to Remus. "Very well." He said. "What has the fool gotten himself into then?"

Remus paused as he glanced quickly at Dumbledore, who, with a friendly smile, gestured for him to go on as though the whole scene of a few seconds ago had never happened.

Remus took a breath, then started again. "Sirius went to the ministry this morning to be questioned...."

"He was on trial for murder." Snape broke in bluntly. "And from the sounds of it he's well on his way to a conviction.....by his own words."

"Severus," Dumbledore spoke up, his voice a little less kind this time. "Listen to Remus, please. This is important."

Snape sighed and sat back in his chair. Though he wasn't looking at Remus, and had in fact suddenly gotten very interested in the wall behind Dumbledore's desk, Remus got the feeling he was listening anyway.

"Sirius was questioned about James and Lily's murders." Remus agreed. "The ministry said they questioned him under Veritaserum."

"Then why exactly are we wasting time here discussing a murderer?"

"Severus," Dumbledore added again. "Listen to him. It is important. A man's life may depend on what you can tell us."

"If that man is Black, then he's in a very sorry state of affairs indeed. For I wouldn't cross the road to spit on the man if he were on fire."

"Severus." Dumbledore said, the kind tone back in his voice. To Remus it sounded very much like the tone one used on an unruly child to make him listen to you. "Sirius made a mistake one day a very long time ago. One that might have had terrible consequences. But he was a young boy, who wasn't thinking past the moment. Now, I am sure we have all made mistakes. Things we wish we could do over. Things we wish others would overlook as the exuberance of youthful whiles."

Remus was sure Dumbledore was reminding Snape about the incident that had divided Snape and Sirius even more than they already were. The night Sirius laid a trap for Snape in the tunnel under the Whomping Willow. Leading the young man into a face to fang encounter with a werewolf.

But as he watched the expression on Snape's face alter, he wasn't so sure anymore. Snape seemed to be listening to the old man's words like he had never listened to anyone in his life. To Remus it seemed as though Snape wasn't even breathing anymore.

"Now, please," Dumbledore repeated, "listen to what Remus has to say."

Snape seemed this time to listen to what Remus had to say. But that was all he seemed to do. He didn't so much as alter his expression as Remus recounted the events of that morning to the potions master, finishing with Sirius being led out of the room at the end of the questioning.

"They gave Black Veritaserum?" Snape asked when Remus stopped talking.

"Well, that's really part of what...."

"They gave it to him before the trail." Snape filled in. "They questioned him. He answered. I fail to see what there is to discuss here, Headmaster." Snape turned his attention fully back to Dumbledore.

"Remus seems to feel that there is the possibility that perhaps the ministry arranged for Sirius to be given something else."

Snape looked nearly astonished. "For what purpose?"

"To prove him guilty of a crime he never committed." Remus put in quickly.

Snape turned his hard cold stare back to Remus. "And you know this because....?"

"I know Sirius."

Snape sat for several seconds simply staring at Remus as though the man had lost his mind completely.

"Because you 'know' him." Snape repeated slowly. "That's your evidence of any of this? Because you 'know' him?"

"Severus, I know Sirius would never have......."

"Not because you have any proof. Not because you saw them give him something other than Veritaserum. Not because of one shred of evidence. But because you 'know' him."

"Severus, you don't understand."

Snape gave Remus a very cold smile. "But I do, Remus." He stated in his smoothest, silkiest voice. "You say your friend is innocent for all of the very same reasons you say the ministry says he is guilty. Now, who exactly are we to believe?" Snape turned back to the Headmaster. "You'll have to forgive me, Headmaster." He stated, getting to his feet. "But I have work I must get back to. Perhaps when Mr. Lupin has found some evidence to support his claim, I would be more inclined to listen. Until then, I'm afraid I have no time for 'speculation'."

Snape was stepping into the fire before Dumbledore could say a word to him. And in a flash from the flames, he was gone.

Remus turned a defeated look to Dumbledore. "Now what?"

"Give me time to speak to him, Remus." Dumbledore replied with a small smile. "In the meantime, why don't you go back to the ministry and see how Sirius is doing?"

Remus paused for a moment. Time was getting very short, and he was starting to get worried. But he forced his fears back down and simply nodded to the Headmaster as he got to his feet and left the office.

Q&A

Family Life

DragonMistress: Oh, my! Such a review! My goodness! Thank you! I do try to stay somewhat in cannor with my stories and keep much to the original style. I'm so very pleased you liked the story. And watch for the sequel coming out soon, Family Relations.

Tried And Convicted

Nagini: Yes, Dear. You were first. It's nice to be loved. And I am happy to be back.

Elizabeth Bathory: I'm glad you are enjoying the story. And I don't think you'll be disappointed with the stories I suggested. They are well worth the read.

Mr. Happy Java Man: Love the name, by the way.

O.K., this is going to take some explaining. I was going to look old Avery up to see what everyone was talking about, but I decided to just explain this the way I wrote it. No, there is no connection between the two characters. I just needed a name for this character and 'Avery Trennerson' is the first thing (believe it or not) that popped into my head. And you haven't seen the last of Mr. Trennerson.

Now, you know I can't answer that! That's nearly the whole point of the story.

Thank you for being forgiving about the deadline thing.

Peacockgirl: And I'm happy to be back. Thank you.

P.A.R. is NOT mean to Sirius! I let him live each story, don't I? Really! Technically, I haven't killed a single character to date.

Don't worry too much about the sleep thing, Dear. I do some of my best writing late at night.

hpfan: So, how is the view up there? Heard it's pretty.

Now how can I answer ANY of that? Kind of makes the story redundant, don't cha' think?

I can answer the last question, however. Sirius was on trial for James and Lily's murders only. Not for attempting to murder Harry.

Silverfox: O.K., the only thing I can say here is that that was really Sirius. Not an imposter.

Wait a minute. You had a story that wasn't suppose to have any chapters at all? Dear, then you have no story. I mean, the first thing you put up, regardless, is 'a' chapter, right?

I'm glad so many people are looking forward to meeting Orion Black. and I hope the love affiar holds out to my actually getting him to publication, or posting. Currently the first story he is in, Enemies, is turning into a bugger. I'm doing my best with it, but it has some very definite problems right now.

Indiana jones: Well, I can darn sure tell you it ain't gonna be Harry! I don't torture babies.

Currently the story is ten chapters long, so there will definitely be more.

Sailor Sol: What did I do with him? Wrote another award winning story, looks like to me.

O.K., 'nough sunshine up my skirt.

Once again, folks, all I'll say at this point is that that was the real Sirius. Not an imposture.

Karla: O.K., I think this is a first. You're getting a gold star, Karla, but at the present time, I can't give it to you because I can't say why you're getting it. But you hit on something major in your review that, due to story content, I can't comment on. But I will deliver that gold star when I can, and can tell you why you're getting it without spoiling the story. 

As to your other questions, I can't comment on Mr. Green just now.

In regards to Avery Trennerson's character, as I put in my answer to Mr. Happy Java Man, I was going to go look up this character's reference in GoF, but decided against it and choose to simply answer it as I would have normally. Avery Trennerson has no connection to the Avery in GoF. He is an independent character. The similarity in names is purely coincidental.

Where Dumbledore was in all this was answered in this chapter.

Hang in for that gold star, Dear.

Abby: Oh! Such a GOOD question! Tried And Convicted is set about a month after The Bonds That Tie ended. Sirius was given a reprieve from questioning by the ministry until he got better.

My father is doing very well. Thank you for asking. He has good days and bad days, depending if he does too much or so. But he is coming along nicely.

sweets: Ohhhhhh, harddrives taking a dive is a bad thing. P.A.R. knows all about this! My 286 was hit by a power surge. Try finding a new harddrive for that! But, I did manage to recover my files, and a very nice computer man I met through my last job sent me A couple of spare harddrives. So I'm set for a while.

How do YOU know Sirius is innocent?

Thanks for the review.

All reviews are as of 08142002 prior to posting.

Three wise woman would have....

Asked for directions.

Arrived on time.

Helped deliver the baby.

Cleaned the stable.

Made a casserole.

Brought practical gifts, and 

There would have been peace on Earth.

See you Sunday (barring, you know, certain circumstances).


	3. Chapter Three: Maybe

A/N: *Looks around innocently.* I have nothing to say. Imagine.

Well, actually, I had something to tell you. But do you REALLY want to hear about poor P.A.R. killing a little bird as she was driving down the road at 7:15AM on a Sunday Morning? Folks, it was fairly traumatic, trust me.

So, just enjoy, all right.

****

Tried And Convicted

****

CHAPTER THREE: MAYBE

Remus pulled his cloak a little tighter around him as he walked towards the ministry offices. It had been raining steadily all afternoon and he was desperately trying to stay dry. 

Harry had been left behind, again in the care of the witch next door with her own children, who adequately seemed to take Harry's attention off the fact that he was no longer with either of his regular caretakers.

Although Remus had apparated to the general area of the offices, anti-apparation fields forced him to walk the last few blocks in the rain. But his reason for being there hurried him along. He was impatient to see Sirius. To hear from him what had gone on in the court room the day before.

There was some sort of explanation. Remus was sure of it. A spell of some sort. A threat. A promise. Even the use of an imposter didn't skip Remus' realm of possibilities.

He stood patiently as the guards to the jail subjected him to a variety of spells and checks. Remus had a high amount of suspicion that the extra time involved had something to do with the last time that Sirius had been in the jail. That just prior to his escape, Remus had visited him. That he had, in fact, likely been Sirius' only visitor. But this time he had no plans for a jail break.

At least not yet.

Finally satisfied that he wasn't carrying anything he shouldn't be, Remus was taken into the back of the building where the prisoners were kept. It was now early afternoon, and very soon Sirius could well be on his way to Azkaban and the Dementors Kiss.

Led down the corridor, Remus noted that he was being led to the same cell Sirius had been kept in before. At the far end of the corridor, as though he was the most dangerous of criminals and had to be kept absolutely isolated. Not that that would have been difficult. There wasn't another prisoner in even one of the cells in that area.

Remus' sense of deja vu continued as he stepped up to the cell his friend was in. Inside the small cell, Sirius was seated on the floor rather than the bench in back, staring blankly at the wall opposite him.

The guard gave Remus a few instructions before leaving. But as Remus watched, he noted that the man only walked to the end of the corridor, then stopped and stood waiting.

Shrugging inwardly, Remus turned his attention back to Sirius as he stepped up to the bars.

"Sirius?" Remus called softly. "How are you?"

The man in the cell acted as though he hadn't even heard him.

"We're not going to go through this again are we?" Remus asked in a lighter tone as he tried to get Sirius' attention. "You know from experience I won't go away. I'll just keep bothering you until you talk to me."

At first Sirius seemed as though he was set on ignoring Remus completely. But just as Remus was getting ready to start on a new angle, Sirius turned his face to him.

"What is there to say, Remus?" He asked.

Remus had never seen such a look in his friend's eyes. It was beyond hopelessness. Beyond pain. Beyond fear. It was the look of a man facing his worst fear, knowing it was true, and that there was nothing in the world he could do to change it or escape its memory.

Remus crouched down outside the bars. "Sirius, what happened in that courtroom?" He asked.

Sirius gave a short, derisive laugh. "I confessed." He said abruptly.

"Sirius, you did not betray James and Lily to Voldemort. And certainly not Harry."

"Veritaserum doesn't lie, Remus." Sirius replied dully. "That's the whole point of it."

"Sirius, you didn't have anything to do with it." Remus stated firmly. "I'd stake my life on that."

"That's a poor bet to make, Remus." Sirius replied quietly. "I confessed to it, under Veritaserum. Therefore, I must have done it."

"So, what? You were lying all those times you told me....swore to me you had nothing to do with James and Lily's murders? Lied about it as you were bouncing their infant son in your lap? As Harry was sitting there happily giggling and laughing at his godfather?"

"Veritaserum doesn't lie, Remus." Sirius replied in the same dull tone. "Even if I don't remember doing it, I must have. I couldn't have lied about it under the effects of the potion. And if I am responsible, then I'm only getting what I deserve."

Remus stood for a moment outside the bars, watching Sirius shutting down before his eyes. Slipping slowly into the near catatonic state he was in before. He had to do something to snap the man out of it and get him to at least fight for his life.

"All right." Remus said. "Maybe you're right, Sirius. Maybe it was you, and for whatever reason you've been lying to me for all these months. But explain something to me. Tell me one thing and I'll believe every word you said in that courtroom. Just one thing."

Sirius turned slowly to him.

"Tell me 'Why'."

Sirius paused for a very long time, his stare never leaving Remus. But finally he closed his eyes as he turned back to the wall before him, shaking his head.

"I don't know." He practically moaned the answer. "I honestly don't know, Remus. I loved James. He was like a brother to me. And Lily....pretty, sweet Lily. She was the closest thing to a sister I've ever known. And I was so excited the day Harry was born. I think I was more wound up that day than James. I was so happy for them. They had everything they wanted." Sirius paused for a moment. "Maybe that was the reason." He said in a distant sounding voice. "Maybe I was jealous. Maybe I was just jealous of everything they had and I didn't."

"Jealous!" Remus stated abruptly. "Of what? Sirius, all you ever said about James, Lily, and Harry was how happy you were to have them in your life because they were your surrogate family. That you could get all the 'home life' experience you wanted through them and never have to bother with any of the reality of it on your own. Just trade out your freedom once and a while by babysitting Harry, safe in the knowledge it was there waiting for you when James and Lily got home."

"Maybe I just didn't realize how much I really wanted it, Remus."

"You never told me anything different. And you're honestly telling me that subconsciously you came up with the stupid idea that killing your best friend, his wife, and their son was somehow going to get you what you didn't know you wanted all along?"

Sirius briefly thought over Remus' logic, but finally shook his head. "The fact remains that I confessed to it, Remus." He replied. "And that I couldn't have lied."

Remus thought over his strategy again . If Sirius was sinking into the same depression he was in before, maybe a similar tactic would bring him out of it.

"Well," he said finally, "I can't argue that, Sirius. You're right. You confessed to it under Veritaserum and you couldn't have lied under those circumstances. So, I guess the role of 'godfather' for Harry will be open in few days."

"You take it, Remus." Sirius suggested half-heartedly. "Harry always liked you."

"Actually," Remus replied, eyeing his friend carefully, "I was thinking of offering the position to Peter."

If the mention of Pettigrew had gotten a reaction out of Sirius before when he was sick, it was nothing compared to what the mention of the name got now. Sirius flew at the bars, one hand reaching out at Remus as he attempted to grab the man by the collar.

"No!" Sirius cried. "Remus, no! You can't do that!"

The guard started down the hallway, attracted by the sudden outburst, but Remus quickly waved him off, showing him everything was all right as he stepped away from the bars. But it had only been his better-than-average reflexes that had kept him out of Sirius' grasp as he dodged the hand reaching for him.

"Well, who else?" He asked his friend calmly, with a completely serious expression. "I can't take the role for obvious reasons. The person appointed will, in fact, become Harry's legal guardian. He'll probably end up living with them. Peter is the only one I can think of. He's perfect."

"He's a murderer!" Sirius nearly yelled at him through the bars.

Remus froze where he was. The calm, pleasant facade draining from his face as he stared in stunned silence at the man in the cell.

"He's what?" Remus asked after a few moments.

"He's a murderer!" Sirius repeated with the same determination in his voice.

"Peter?"

"He was their secretkeeper, Remus." Sirius cried. "It wasn't me. Don't you understand. It was Peter."

Remus stared back at Sirius through the bars for a few more moments in silence.

"Why didn't you ever say anything about this before?" He asked quietly, for the moment to shocked to remember Sirius' testimony in the courtroom. 

Sirius shook his head as he clung to the bars. "You wouldn't have believed me." He stated dismally. "Why should you believe me now? I have no proof of it. But....," Sirius turned a pleading expression to his friend. "......please, Remus. If you believe nothing else in all of this, believe this one thing. Believe this one thing I am telling you. Peter was James and Lily's secretkeeper. Not me."

Remus stared at the man for a few minutes. "You want me to believe this, Sirius? Just like you asked me to believe you all those months that you swore you had nothing to do with James and Lily's murders. And yet under Veritaserum you contradicted yourself. Why should I believe this?"

Remus was hoping Sirius would follow his trail of logical deduction and reason out that if he was so sure about what he was saying about Peter, he would apply the same solid feeling of assurance to what he had always held was the truth about his involvement in James and Lily's murders. 

But what Remus wasn't prepared for was the path of logic Sirius actually ended up on instead.

The man in the cell's face suddenly shifted back to its previous blank expression, taking on a look Remus knew was characteristically not good.

"You're right." Sirius said in an almost mystic tone as he stared at the wall past the bars of his cell. "If I was lying about James and Lily's murders, and I didn't even know it, how do I know anymore that this is the truth? Maybe this is just one more lie I've convinced myself of. Maybe it was me. And I just...convinced myself it was Peter. I accused him because I couldn't face my own guilt."

"Oh, for the love of....." Remus crossed the border of frustration. "Sirius! Will you listen to yourself!" He demanded. "You have honestly stepped off the deep end now."

"But it fits, Remus." Sirius replied in the same mystic sounding voice.

"If you twist it around enough, any insane tale will fit, Sirius."

But Sirius didn't seem to even be listening to him anymore. Instead he returned to his former position in the cell. Seated on the floor, facing the side wall.

Remus slowly shook his head as he listened to the man muttering to himself as he continued to work his logic over the facts. Things had certainly gone from bad to worst. And now it was time to seek reinforcements elsewhere.

Leaving the jail, Remus high-tailed it for Hogwarts. Once he arrived he repeated everything that had happened in the jail to Dumbledore. To his amazement, Snape was already in the Headmaster's office when he arrived, and elected to stay to hear what Remus had to say. At the end of his report, whereas Dumbledore looked worried, Snape looked utterly amused.

"So," he stated, giving Lupin an extremely bored look, "not only are you trying to help free a possible murderer, now you're trying to free a possibly insane one as well?"

"Sirius is no murderer, Severus." Remus spoke up, coming quickly to his friend's defense. "And after all that Sirius has been through, I wouldn't blame him one bit if his sanity did take a little vacation."

Snape sighed and shook his head as he turned to staring at the opposite wall with great interest.

"I hardly think we need worry about Sirius sanity, Remus." Dumbledore spoke up as he cast a quick glance at his potions master before turning his attention back to Remus. "But you can hardly deny the man the right to be very confused. And a little bit frightened. It can be a very un-nerving thing to think you can't trust you're own memories. After all, the last time, Sirius was working on speculation. This time, he, like everyone else, heard the words from his own mouth. That's a bit harder to deny."

"But he's giving up again, Albus." Remus put in. "And I'm not sure how to deal with him this time."

"Well, perhaps whatever you did before to snap him out of it might work again." Dumbledore suggested.

"I already tried that." Remus replied dismally. "It just made things worse this time."

"Well, if we're going to help Sirius we'll need his cooperation, Remus." Dumbledore told him firmly. "And we can't help a man who is starting to believe he's as guilty as everyone else believes he is."

Remus sighed to himself as he left the headmaster's office. He wasn't sure what else to do to try and snap Sirius out of his state. Outside the gates of the castle, he finally apparated home, glad to be back with Harry and to know that at least on that front everything seemed all right.

That night Remus tucked Harry into his bed and sat down on the edge of it for a few minutes to make sure Harry was all right. The child had hardly said two words since Sirius had been taken from the courtroom and Remus was sure he had to be confused, but either didn't know how to express it, or was just to frightened to say anything.

"So," Remus said as he brushed a patch of the unruly black hair back over the child's forehead, "you ready to go to sleep, Harry?"

The two wide green eyes stared up at Remus, then looked quickly about the room, finally settling with a questioning look back on Remus again.

"What is it, Harry?" Remus asked, noting the child's stare.

Harry stared up at his surrogate uncle with an almost apologetic look.

"Pafoot?" He asked in barely a whisper.

Somehow Harry had never quite gotten the 'D' in the name. A point that Remus had found endless humor in while Sirius insisted that Remus had taught the name to him wrong all along as some joke. But to hear the name now, spoken like a pleading whisper from the lips of the child, nearly broke Remus' heart. He had no idea how to explain things to Harry, or give him any comfort or reassurance. Sirius was always there at bedtime. To tuck Harry in, read him a story, or just to give him a reassuring cuddle before Harry settled off to sleep. And Harry absolutely seemed to live for bedtime. He just seemed to want more than anything in the world to spend time with his godfather. As long as Sirius was there, everything was all right.

But now Sirius wasn't there. And Harry knew everything wasn't all right.

"Pafoot isn't here right now, Harry." Remus tried to answer the child's questioning look. "But he'll be back soon. You'll see. Everything will be all right again."

Harry hugged the stuffed toy he had with him tightly as Remus got up and, giving him a kiss on the forehead, left the room. But his keen hearing didn't miss the soft, nearly inaudible sob as he headed down the hallway.

Downstairs, Remus sighed softly to himself as he leaned against the mantle over the fire. How could he possibly make a promise like that to Harry? How could he fix any of this?

Slowly Remus lifted his head, his eyes immediately falling on the picture of he and Sirius, Peter, and James as they stood together at their graduation from Hogwarts. The four, happy, excited smiling boys waved enthusiastically at him. In front of the group was a very pretty, equally happy looking Lily. Remus watched them with melancholy smile when his gaze slowly fixed on one person in the picture.

James!

What had Sirius said the last time he was like this? That he had seen James. And his whole outlook had suddenly changed over night. The night he claimed James had come and cured him. Told him he had to fight to get better. That he had to be there for Harry.

Remus took the picture down and stepped back from the mantle. His gaze slowly shifted from the picture as he looked about the room. The fire gave the room a warm, friendly glow. And the sound of the logs popping in the fire was somehow comforting to him.

"Well, James," he spoke to the dimly lit room, trying to keep his voice as normal sounding as possible, "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I could really use your help. Sirius needs your help."

Remus stood in the warm glow of the fire, watching flickering shadows dance about on the walls, hoping one would step out of its two-dimensional existence and materialize as the friend he still missed so very much in his life.

But the shadow only continued in their dance.

"Sirius really needs you, James." Remus told the room again. "I don't know what to tell him. How to snap him out of it this time. I didn't know how to do it last time. Sirius says you did that for him. That you talked to him." Remus looked about at the shadows again. Hoping still. "Couldn't you go to him? Tell him he's wrong. He didn't murder you. He didn't murder Lily. I know he didn't. And....and if we don't do something........he's going to be worse than dead, James. Please." Remus begged the silent shadows. "Can't you help him just this once more?"

But the only answer Remus got to his question was the merry popping of the fire.

Sighing to himself, Remus walked over to the sofa and plopped heavily down on it. 

He still had the picture in his hand, and was staring at it several minutes later when a tugging at his pants leg nearly caused him to jump to the ceiling.

Calming down quickly, Remus looked around the small frame to see Harry standing next to him in front of the sofa. In one hand he carried a small, flower print blanket. The other he had the thumb of stuck in his mouth, sucking on it like mad. A sure sign of distress for the small child.

Remus sighed, giving the small boy a tired smile as he leaned over and lifted him up and settled him in his lap.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Remus asked as the child rested his head against Remus' chest. "Couldn't you sleep?"

The child shook his head slightly, his gaze drifting to the picture Remus held in his hand. Remus watched as Harry carefully studied the people in the picture, saddened at the thought that the two people in it who were the most important in his life, he didn't even remember. But to Remus' surprise, Harry's expression suddenly brightened as he continued studying all the faces.

"Ma!" He cried happily, pointing at the picture.

Remus looked over at the picture, somewhat amazed to see that of all the people in the picture, Harry was pointing directly at Lily. 

Well, maybe not so amazing. She was the only female in the picture.

"Ma!" Harry cried again with a happy smile, tapping Lily's image with his finger.

"Yes. That's your mama." Remus replied, surprised that after nearly a year, the child would recognize his mother so quickly.

"Da!" Came the next statement, and Harry again began tapping the picture with his finger.

Remus looked around the child's head. But he stopped short of saying anything when he realized that Harry was clearly pointing, not to James, but to Sirius.

Well, that would certainly have started some interesting conversations had James been in the room, Remus thought.

With a small chuckle, Remus redirected the child's finger until it pointed to James.

"No." He admonished gently, moving the finger to its new location. "This is your 'Da'." Remus explained. He then moved the finger back over to Sirius. "Pafoot." He said.

The child seemed to take great interest in what Remus was showing him. He stared at the picture with renewed interest. Remus took Harry finger again and pointed at Lily.

"Who's that?" He asked the child.

"Ma!" Harry cried happily.

Remus moved the finger to Sirius. "Who's that?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Pafoot."

Remus rewarded him with adequate praise as he moved the little finger to James' image. "And that?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Da." He said. Though to Remus he didn't sound completely convinced. 

"Yes." He confirmed for the child. "Da."

Harry, however, seemed thoroughly impressed with himself as he turned his attention to a corner of the room. Suddenly Harry began to bounce happily in Remus' lap, chanting 'Da' several times as he clapped his hands at an unseen audience.

"All right." Remus said after a few moments. "It's way past your bedtime, young man."

But Harry had definite other ideas on the matter. "Ma!" He cried, reaching out to the same corner he had been clapping at earlier. "Ma, ma, ma!"

"No." Remus replied. "Bedtime. Bed, bed, bed."

"Da!" Harry answered, staring at the corner. "Da!"

Remus shook his head as he set the picture back on the mantle. "Boy, once you learn something......" He mumbled, resting Harry over his shoulder.

Remus started for the door when a noise behind him caused him to turn about again abruptly. He looked about for where the noise had come from. 

It didn't take very long. 

Lying on the floor before the fireplace was the picture he had just set on the mantle. Shaking his head with a quiet sigh, Remus went back over to the picture and picked it up. 

"You nearly scared me out of a few good years, you know that?" Remus stated to the five people in the picture, none of whom seemed to take the slightest notice.

Remus placed the picture on the mantle again and headed for the door. But once again a sound caused him to turn around. Except this time it was much softer.

Looking back at the fireplace, Remus saw that indeed, the picture had fallen off the mantle again. But this time it had landed a good three feet away from the mantle, managing to cushion the fall as it landed on the rug in the livingroom instead of the stone floor just in front of the fireplace. Pausing, Remus stared at the fallen photo, then finally walked slowly back over to it and, leaning down cautiously, picked it up and set it back on the mantle. 

But this time something in the photo caught his eye. Something he would have sworn he had never noticed before. All five of the people in the foreground remained as they had been. All happily waving at him. But this time, in the background was another shape. One that, with it's long, shining black hair, and perfectly tailored black robes that he had worn at their graduation, was unmistakable to Remus.

Snape.

Q&A

Nagini: Ya' have a talent for being first. What can I say?

Ummmm, Dear........maybe a Littttttttttttttle less caffeine, O.K.?

I don't know what else you expected out of Snape. He's....well.....Snape.

How was that for Harry? All cute and cuddly. Ya' just gotta love him as a baby.

Sailor Sol: Deflate my ego? Why? It might take a while anyway after reading your review. Heavens! I hope you come back for Enemies. See a lot of reviewer support needed for that one.

And to be nice in return, I'll save you some time looking for the story to be posted. I only post between 6P.M. and 10P.M. EST.

And please don't hate me! I try to be a good author. I try not to kill you with suspense and brutalize my characters or anything else nasty. I'll try to make the stories less interesting if it would help!

Elizabeth Bathory: I told you you would. Unicorn Whisperer is very good.

True enough, Dear. He does tend to be a bit rough about the edges, but he does have a good heart. But lets face some facts. HE CONFESSED!

Honestly!

Peacockgirl: I hope the Disney World trip makes it all worth it, Dear.

Sorry I wasn't clearer about when this was coming up, but I honestly didn't know. I have tried to stay within my deadlines, but due to certain events, that hasn't happened at all and I am to the point I not longer give dates. And honestly one of the biggest things that off-sets when I plan to post stories is the length of the story I'm presently working on. Tried And Convicted was suppose to be four chapters or so, making it a two week post. Then Enemies. Well, Tried And Convicted ended up being ten chapters, making it a ten week post. Therefore, the next story, Enemies, is now eight weeks off schedule. And I'm not even going to discuss Family Relations at this point.

But to check if I've posted, check my author's page. That's your best bet. And currently I only post on Sundays and Wednesdays, between 6P.M. and 10P.M. EST.

Mr. Happy Java Man: I was recently scanning the posted stories and saw you have a new one up as well. Way to go! A reviewer and a writer!

Can't understand people who drink coffee. Never could stand the stuff myself. I'm strictly a tea drinker. Give me Celestial Seasons over Folgers any day.

Still won't answer that first part, by the way.

Don't judge poor Severus just yet. As Remus pointed out, he was having an 'afternoon tea' sort of day.

Essence of Magic: *P.A.R. sniffs.* You weren't going to read my story? Well, I guess you're right out for Enemies then, huh?

School here started the first week in August. I have no idea what time the little bugge......children got out.

Do all my reviewers got to Band Camp? And what is this horrible place? No one seems to like it but everyone seems to go there.

Oh, Dear, please hang with me for Family Relations. I swear you won't regret it and the story is very good. Even I like it!

For now hang onto the story. Give me a little more time. Or, if you want, the best thing to really do is e-mail it to me at par@fanfiction.net one chapter at a time and let me look it over that way. Otherwise I'll get bogged down with it and I can tell you straight out it'll take me well over a year to read the whole thing. But if I have little bits to work on at a time, I'll get it done much sooner. I don't know why things work that way with me, but they do. I have a lot of people who send me stories to critique for them. I have no idea why. But I'm seriously starting to think about doing this for money. So get in now while I'm still cheap (free).

RavenLady: Thank you. I do try to stay true to my characters as much as possible.

Silverfox: Ah, another European attempting to understand the Americans. My sympathies, Dear. And your analysis is very difficult to argue. True, if you only post one thing, it is a story in itself and the chapter thing doesn't come in until there are multiple entries. I bow to your logic.

If you liked the Remus/Severus interaction, you are going to love this story. Actually, almost any of my stories. I too, love the interaction that is possible between these two very dynamically opposing characters. They are total opposites that definitely attract. (In a non-slashy sort of way here. Remember, P.A.R. doesn't write the slashy stories. Yet.) There is simply way too much potential whenever they are in a room together to just let it go untapped. I love these characters!

Sirius could answer some of the questions, remember. He only had trouble with certain ones. And there was a reason for that. And I will say that he was not told what to say in advance. The answers are perfectly candid. And in that light, all of the questions are unexpected. He has no idea what they are going to ask him. But there was a reason he stumbled over the questions he did. And it is explained later.

purple water: Goodness! You people are putting some serious time into trying to outthink old P.A.R. this time.

Let me see if I can handle that first one. That's a bit tough. Granted, you haven't seen twisted logic yet, but give the story some time.

O.K., first off, you say Sirius only answered two questions untruthfully. One; are you a lying (basically), and two; are you a Deatheater. My question is, why are you so sure he answered those questions untruthfully?

Next, I'd like to point out that not all Elite do not have the Dark Mark. Katlin (Remember her from The Bonds That Tie?) is an Elite. But she also carries the Dark Mark on her arm just like a Deatheater.

Ummmm, I'll give you the secretkeeper one. He very well could have looked at it that way and I think in the books, by canon, he did.

I can't comment on the next part about the Imperious Curse and the Veritaserum because it's a large part of the story, obviously.

'When did you stop beating your wife?'. I always liked that one.

What can I say about the next part? The way the questions were asked is very important. But I had to dedicate a large part of a chapter to explaining 'why'. So, be patient and wait for the chapter.

I'm sure theories will change as time (and chapters) go on.

sweets: Good point!

Well, since this is AU and taking place when Harry is a baby, it isn't exactly canon.

I'm afraid without Padfoot, Harry is most definitely going to get more and more fiddgety. And who gets to be the wonderful recipient of all that? *Remus looks up innocently from the book he's reading.*

=8'O: I know that's not your sign in. But I have nothing else to call you.

Ohhhh, I wish you had found a place to start. P.A.R. has ego issues and needs it stroked regularly. Usually until it purrs.

Thank you for the review.

Fire Spirit: Harry was living with the Dursley's in the first installment of this story arc called The Bonds That Tie. Sirius took him from them and that's sort of where the whole thing started that brought us to where we are now. Currently he is living with Sirius, who is currently living with Remus because of issues brought up in the first story. Although having read the other story is not essential right now to understanding Tried And Convicted, you will become one lost little reader very soon as that issues from that story will be coming up.

Nicky: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Nice try!

But no.

That was Sirius, not an imposter.

Dumbledore and Remus most likely could have addressed the situation better to Snape to get him to listen. But eventually they would have had to mention either Sirius' name or Snape could have figured it out just from the situation what they were talking about. After all, it was in all the papers.

Noodlejelly: *P.A.R. raises her hand high in the air.* Oh! Oh! Oh! Me! I'll stuff envelopes for that campaign! Free Sirius!

Aside from that, what is the ministry ever playing at? Find the easiest or the stupidest thing to do and go for that.

Karla: Sorry I can't tell you what the star was for yet. Give me a few chapters though. Actually, I don't think you'll find out till near the end, or close to it. And believe me, it kills me to not to be able to jump up and down and wave a flag and tell everyone why you're getting that gold star. It was SOOOOOOO good!

Snape fascinates me as a character. There's no doubt. And Bored Beyond Belief has this man down to a science. I'll have to add a little something about that story in the author's notes next time since not everyone reads the Q&A. But really, go read that story, Never Alone, Never Again I think is the title. You WILL NOT be disappointed! Especially in Snape's POV. I do not agree with Bored Beyond Belief's switching to Snape's POV mid-way through the story. But this author does an outstanding job with him. It's almost scary how well done that character is in this story.

Dumbledore will convince Snape to give their theory a try? I think I can answer that one. 

No he won't.

I sympathize with the bad week, Dear. Go read the author's notes.

Dad is doing great. Thanks for the well wishes.

Indiana jones: Yes, Sirius/Remus torture. And Snape hasn't even begun to whine yet. Look for a good Lupin slap coming up. Honestly. You can only listen to the man whine for so long before you just have to slap him.

Zimmy! Hi, Zim!

Zim, you and I have to have a little talk about the Jolt cola thing. You read the news, right? Well, I think I have the store right, I haven't actually checked, but I believe that the store where I thought they sold it was the store where that clerk was shot and killed a few weeks ago. So, you can imagine P.A.R. isn't exactly heading over there any time soon. Sorry.

Something fishy is definitely going on.

I always liked that quote. It ran along the same lines with me as 'There's always a choice', which I am well known for using in my stories.

No! You can not slap Snape! (Remus gets to do that later.)

Yeah, yeah, today's Sunday and it's getting ready to rain.

*P.A.R. smiles.* I like the rain.

Reviews are as of 08182002.

Remember;

growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

See you Wednesday, barring the whole unforeseen circumstances thing.


	4. Chapter Four: Does The Child Know Any Ot...

A/N: Without a doubt the cutest chapter, barring the second half. But I greatly enjoyed writing the first half of it.

For those of you who jumped on the whole 'Lupin slapping Snape' bandwagon, you do understand P.A.R. was speaking metaphorically. No physical slapping going on here. And it is in this chapter, by the way. Second half.

And I am just tickled silly to announce that as of Monday, 08192002, I have well over 12,000 hits to my stories. Thank you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so very honored that so many people have read and enjoyed these stories.

And Lotesse, P.A.R. is STILL waiting to hear where those pictures are. Come on, girl! Be nice to P.A.R.. Point P.A.R. to the nice URL.

Also, P.A.R. would like to make a story recommendation. Never Alone, Never Again by Bored Beyond Belief. All you Snape lovers out there will love what this person has done with our dear Potions Master. A wonderful rendition of him. Really. Right on the mark, I think.

But, on with this story for now.

Enjoy.

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Tried And Convicted

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Chapter Four: Does the Child Know Any Other Words?

Remus spent most of the night thinking about what had happened. The first time he probably had just not set the picture up on the mantle right and it had become unbalanced and fell. But the second time the picture had landed much too far away from the mantle to have just fallen. It was more as though someone had forcibly shoved it off the ledge.

And what about the appearance of Snape in the background? There had always been images wandering about behind the five in the foreground. But never anything distinct or recognizable that Remus remembered. Maybe he had just never paid much attention to the figures in the background before. Maybe the picture's odd behavior had caused him to study it a bit more carefully as he looked for clues as to what had happened.

Or maybe it was a message, Remus told himself over and over that night. Maybe it was James. Maybe that had been his way of telling Remus what he had to do. Or at least what direction to head in.

And so at the crack of dawn, Remus had Harry up and headed for Hogwarts. Even though the judges decision in Sirius' case wasn't set to be delivered until later that day, Remus didn't want to take any risks in their not being there for the verdict.

Having known Snape since his first year at Hogwarts, Remus knew well what he was in for. Snape was never what one would call a 'morning person'. Or even much of an 'afternoon person' for that matter. Your best chance of catching him in even a moderately good mood was early in the evening. Or even better, late at night, when he was too tired to bother throwing anything at whoever was foolish enough to come to his door.

But Remus was betting on an age-old friendship, no matter how shaky at times, to save him any of Snape's fury. That, and the fact that he had Harry with him.

And so with Harry positioned behind him out of harms way, Remus knocked loudly on Snape's door at about eight in the morning.

The door snapped open to reveal a very irritated looking Severus Snape, hastily pulling his black bath robe about him still as he scowled at the man before him.

"Good morning, Severus." Remus stated with the type of cheerfulness in his voice that made most people want to slap anyone that happy at that hour of the morning.

Snape glared at the man before him, turned to the clock on the wall behind him, then turned an even deeper scowl back to Remus.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" He growled.

Remus quickly held Harry up before him. "Did I mention I have a child with me?" He stated, just as quickly getting Harry out of harms way again as he dropped him carefully back to the floor.

Snape's glare followed the child. "That's the Potter boy."

"Yes. So lets be careful what we might say in the presence of a child, Severus."

Snape gave Remus a sneering sort of smile. "Having lived with Black for more than a week, what could I possibly say that that child hasn't already heard...and probably learned?"

Right on cue, Harry piped up with a fairly interesting denotation of an opinion of Snape's linage.

Remus looked as though he wanted to disapparate on the spot while Snape simply let his lips curl into a small, terse smile.

"I rest my case." He stated.

"Ummm, 'case' is sort of what I wanted to talk to you about, Severus." Remus stated quickly before Snape could close the door.

Snape yanked the door back open. "Case of what? 'Soap' for that child's mouth?" He asked, turning and walking back into the room. "You might well save a few bars for Black while you're at it."

Since Snape didn't close the door after him, Remus took that as an invitation to come in. 

Halfway across the room, Snape stopped and turned back to him. "Honestly, Remus! What are you doing letting the child learn words like that?"

Harry quickly piped up with another fairly interesting addition to his vocabulary.

"And that." Snape added.

Remus hastily clamped a hand over Harry's mouth before he could say anything more. "Well, Severus, he is around Sirius an awful lot. And you know what his vocabulary can be like sometimes."

Harry latched onto Remus' hand and gave it a sharp yank, managing to get the hand down just long enough to voice out an extremely offensive word. Snape's eyebrows rose in surprise, but quickly snapped down again in a frown as he stared back at the child, who once again had Remus' hand clamped over his mouth.

"If not," Snape stated in a slow drawl, "I certainly am being treated to a most interesting repertoire via the child he's raising."

"That's just it, Severus." Remus replied, fighting Harry, who was trying to remove the hand over his mouth. "Sirius has never raised a child before."

"Well, you're there!" Snape stated. "Haven't you any say at all? Or are you just providing food and shelter until one...or both of them...reaches the emotional age of 18?"

"Of course I have a say, Severus. And I have managed to curtail some of Harry's more.....interesting language acquisitions."

Harry gave a good solid yank on Remus' hand and managed another word that left very little open to interpretation.

"That one for instance." Remus said, not even breaking stride this time.

"He just used it." Snape replied dryly.

"First time in....," Remus checked his watch, "three days."

"How proud you must be." Snape said in the same dry tone.

"Tickled silly. It was one of his favorites."

Harry quickly piped up with another word which would likely have caused a barfight if the setting had been different.

"Well, he seems to have acquired a new one." Snape noted. With a sigh he turned to Remus, who was admonishing Harry for his last addition to the conversation. "Do me a favor, Remus, as well as the rest of society. Do try teaching the boy some proper language skills before he gets to my class."

"How do you know he doesn't already have them?"

Snape's expression slowly transformed into a small smile. "In that case," he stated, "I can see Slytherin winning the house cup seven years in a row after the next ten years. All thanks to Potter's rather unique communication skills."

"I think I can manage a few new words by then, Severus." Remus assured him.

"Pity." Snape stated sullenly. "Well, aside from showing me what your newly acquired pride and joy can do, why else are you here, Remus?"

Remus put Harry down. "I need to discuss something with you, Severus. And before I start, I need you to promise to hear me out."

But Snape's attention quickly centered on following Harry as he headed for the door to the room.

"You are watching him, aren't you, Remus?" Snape inquired.

"I can see first I have to get your attention." Remus mumbled.

Snape turned back to him. "These are the rooms of a potions master, Lupin." He stated firmly. "And I do tend to leave things lying around. If you choose not to watch your charge, please do not come to me when the child gets into something he shouldn't have."

"Harry." Remus called.

Harry stopped short of the doorway.

"Be a good boy for Uncle Remus and stay in this room. All right?"

Harry looked up at Remus, then nodded quickly and went over to climb up on Snape's plush, red velvet sofa.

Snape watched the child settle himself in before turning back to Remus. "Now," he stated, "what is it exactly you want, Remus?"

Remus sighed quietly. He knew pretty much how the conversation was likely to go. "I want to talk to you about Sirius."

"The door, you'll remember, is behind you." Snape stated, almost verbatim as Remus had imagined it. "And take that," he said a bit firmer, pointing at Harry, "with you."

Harry looked up from where he was contentedly playing with a pillow to see the tall man in black approaching him. Snape reached down and snatched the pillow away from the child. 

"Give me that." Snape snapped at the child.

Harry stared up at the man in black as he pulled his new toy from his grasp. The man stared down at him in what Harry could only perceive as a dangerous manner. And he had only one answer for what to do when he was scared. Instantly the child broke out in an ear-piercing wail.

"Give it back to him, Severus." Remus stated in a level tone.

"He's your charge. Do something." 

"I can't. Sirius is the only one who can deal with him when he gets like this."

"This?"

"He scared. So he's calling for Sirius. It's what he learned works very well. He cries. Sirius comes running."

Snape gave the crying child a sneering smile. "It might take a little longer this time."

"And you are going to have an awful lot of people at your door very shortly wondering what you did that entitled you to a crying child sitting on your sofa."

Snape seemed to consider the situation, then finally dropped the pillow back on Harry. The child stopped crying almost immediately and happily pulled the pillow into his lap and hugged it tightly to him.

Snape turned back to Remus. "Now that the child is engaged once again in his stimulating past-time, maybe we can get back to what you want?"

"I need your help, Severus."

"By helping Black."

"By proving his innocence."

Snape gave a short laugh. "Why bother coming to me? I'm quite sure Sirius Black hasn't seen his innocence in the past ten years."

"Severus, somehow I think that you are the key to proving Sirius innocent."

"Me? How should I know anything that would help Black?"

"I'm not sure." Remus admitted sheepishly.

Snape stared back at the man for a moment with a very quizzical expression. "And so you came to me because.....?"

Remus paused for a few seconds. "James told me to."

Snape stared at Remus for a good full thirty seconds in stunned silence. "James?" He asked slowly, his eyes narrowing in a puzzled manner. "James Potter?"

Remus stood for a moment in silence, then nodded.

Snape's expression shifted to one of outright skepticism. "Recently?"

"Last night."

Snape stared for a moment at the man before him in silence again. "Remus," He said carefully, "James Potter is dead."

"I know that, Severus." Remus answered, trying to sound as sane as anyone could.

"And yet he told you to come to me for help proving Black innocent?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"And what manner was it exactly he used?"

Remus reached into his robes and pulled out the picture from the night before and handed it to Snape.

Snape looked it over with a growing expression of disgust, then handed it quickly back to Remus.

"And?"

"Look at it closer, Severus." Remus stated, shoving the picture back at Snape.

Snape practically pulled back from the offered picture. But he leaned over a bit and looked over the photo again. "So?"

"You weren't in this picture before, Severus. Not even a corner of your robes. But last night this picture fell off the mantle at my house. Or better, it flew off the mantle and landed on the rug several feet away. When I picked it up, your image was in the background suddenly."

"It's a picture, Remus. Figures come and go all the time. It's not a bloody muggle snapshot."

"Severus, I have had this picture for years. Why, when I picked it up from the rug last night, was your image there?"

Snape looked over the picture again, then pulled back, turning his stare to Remus again. "Coincidence." He stated confidently.

"I think not."

"You're making mountains out of molehills, Remus."

"I don't think so."

"Remus," Snape replied, walking over to a chair next to the sofa and falling into it, "I simply don't see what help I can be. Now if James Potter told you I was the key to helping Black, I wish he would have blasted well told you how."

"I wish he would have too, Severus." Remus stated in a defeated tone. "Because right now Sirius needs all the help he can get."

Snape got suddenly back to his feet. "You'll excuse my abruptness, Remus." He said, heading for the door. "But if there was nothing else?"

Remus quickly followed him, leaving Harry still happily playing on the sofa with the pillow.

As Snape reached the door, he turned back to Remus, giving him a smile that crawled to his lips and curled itself like a snake. "Aren't you forgetting something, Remus?" He asked as the man approached him.

"We're not done." Remus replied in a level tone.

"I think we are."

"Then think again." Remus' tone was verging on desperate. And desperate times called for desperate measures. Remus reached out and grabbed Snape by his robe and pulled him to him until they were practically nose to nose. "Dammit, Snape! A man's life is a stake here! For once in this whole, petty feud, put your hurt and your anger and your stupid pride aside and listen to me. Now, I don't know how, and I don't know why, but somehow you are crucial to us proving Sirius is innocent."

Snape's face remained unreadable.

"Look," Remus pressed on, loosening his grip slightly, but not entirely, "what Sirius did that night was.......stupid. Stupid and careless and thoughtless. And if I had attacked you....if I had bitten you that night, I would never have forgiven him and I could never have forgiven myself. 

And Sirius knew how bad it was....what he had done. He realized how bad it could have been. And despite how he acted......despite what the other who knew about it read into his reaction to it as the days went by, he was mortified about the whole thing. He couldn't even believe he had done it. That he hadn't thought of how badly things could have turned out if not for James. 

He talked about it endlessly to James and Peter and me. He had nightmares about it for weeks. He was even going to Madam Pomfrey for a while for Dreamless Sleep potions because he couldn't face the dreams he was having. You wanted him to suffer for it, Severus? He did. More than you knew. More than anyone did. And I'll tell you a little secret. I don't think he ever got over it. After that night Sirius took a backseat in all our pranks. He was usually the planner. The plotter of everything. The instigator in most cases. But after that he just sort of followed along. He lost a part of himself that night, Severus. A part he never got back. You say Sirius hasn't seen his innocence in years? I think you're right. I think that night was the last time he saw it.

Now, you can't forgive the man? Fine. Don't. I'm not asking you to. All I'm asking you to do is try to help prove a man innocent.

And if you can't do this for him, Severus. If you can't do one thing in your whole life for Sirius. Then do it for me. Do it because once, a very long time ago, we were friends. Do it for the friend you use to sit under the tree with by the lake all those years ago and talk about curses and counter-spells. For the person you did open yourself up to. Who never betrayed you. To the person you helped make life a little bit more bearable. Reach down into whatever there is left of a heart in you, and do this one, last thing for me. 

And if you can't even do it for me," Remus added, softening his tone slightly, "then do it for yourself. Because if you think you've suffered over that night all these years, Severus, tell me, how will you handle thinking you had the chance to save a man's life and instead stood by your petty hate and hurt and did nothing?" Remus finished as he gave Snape a small shove backwards, releasing his hold on the man.

Snape regained his balance quickly as he turned back to the man before him. His look was one of utter astonishment. But it was quickly masked by the same, seemingly ever present scowl. 

"All right, Remus." Snape said in a low, even tone. "I will help you. And I'll even tell you why I'm doing it. Not for any wondrous speeches, or guilty feeling, or altruistic intentions. I'm doing it for one reason and one reason only."

"And that is?"

"Because Black is no Deatheater. And I won't have the man dieing accused of something he isn't. He'll die a fool or nothing at all. But he won't die with anyone thinking him a follower of Voldemort." Snape turned back to Remus, his expression now completely neutral. "I need you to tell me everything that happened from the moment you got to the courtroom."

Remus paused for a moment, still somewhat surprised by Snape's change of heart. But finally he furrowed his brow as he thought back to the morning before. "When we arrived they took Sirius off to a separate room. I didn't see him again until they brought him into the courtroom a good while later."

"Do go on." Snape said in a voice as neutral of his expression.

Remus paused again, thinking, then continued. 

"A ministry member questioned Sirius about James and Lily's murders, if he was a Deatheater, if he betrayed them to the dark lord. All of which Sirius admitted to."

"Which is all what the paper reported." Snape stated in a slightly frustrated tone. "Remus, the man admitted to all of it. Under Veritaserum. What is the problem?"

"He was lying."

"A person under Veritaserum can not lie." Snape stated flatly.

"He did just the same."

"And you know this for a fact because.......?"

"Because I know Sirius."

Snape drew in a sharp breath. To Remus it seemed very much he was stopping himself not just from saying something, but from even thinking it.

"That's you're sound reasoning in proving the man innocent?" He asked in an even voice.

"That wasn't all there was." Remus replied.

"Well, what else happened then?"

Snape stood silently staring at Lupin as the man recanted what happened after the ministry official continued questioning Sirius. When he mentioned Sirius' apparent hesitency to answer certain questions, Snape's interest suddenly peaked as he asked Remus several questions about the incidents. From Sirius' mood to his tone of voice, Snape seemed to break the scene down into it's most minute parts. Finally Remus finished with what happened prior to his leaving the courtroom. Which Snape listened to, but didn't seem nearly as interested in.

When Remus stopped talking, Snape stood for a very long time in silence, staring in front of him with an utterly blank expression.

"You're sure of what you've told me?" He finally asked Lupin as he focused back on him.

"I was there, Severus." Remus replied. "And I doubt I'll ever forget one detail of this day as long as I live."

Snape turned his attention to the fire place, staring at it for some time before he spoke again.

"The symptoms are wrong." He said finally in a matter-of-fact tone. "They're not far off. But they're wrong. In fact, everything is wrong."

"In what ways?" Remus asked.

"Everything. From the way Black acted, to the questions he was asked, to how the whole thing was handled."

"Meaning?"

"The first question the man asked Black. What was it again?"

"He asked him if he was James and Lily's secretkeeper?"

Snape shook his head. "That's not right. When someone is being questioned under Veritaserum in a courtroom, the court first has to show they are under the effects. They first asked the person their name. Something everyone is sure of. Then they place a spell on the person. A common one to make the person lie. Then ask them to state something common. The day of the week that day. The date. Something easily known to be the truth. According to the spell they are under, they should lie and everyone is aware of it. They can't normally fake telling the truth under the spell. But the Veritaserum will counteract the spell and the person will be forced to tell the truth regardless. Then the person is asked to state something else that is the truth, and then the questioning begins. It can't be done any other way."

"Why not?"

"It's like a muggle polygraph. You need a standard to measure against. Something that shows the Veritaserum is working. Black was never asked to lie. That would invalidate his whole testimony. And if the rest of your account is accurate, Black simply wasn't acting like a man under Veritaserum at all. But to those only casually associated with potions, as is most of the general wizarding public, everything would likely have looked normal. As well as do few people bother with courtroom procedures. Those questioned under Veritaserum are also given the antidote before they leave the courtroom. That part of the trail is never excluded. It gives the defense the chance to ask the accused questions now that the truth is revealed and allows for the accused to offer any explanations for their actions. For instance, a man may have stolen something from another, but did so because he was being forced to steal it by someone else. A fact that would, of course have to be verified under another dose of Veritaserum. But mitigating circumstances have to be accounted for." Snape explained. "This whole trial, from your account, was very......."

"Rehearsed?" Remus offered.

"'Staged' is more the word I would use." Snape replied. "It was simply to 'cut and dry'. It seemed more that the ministry was simply giving the public a show. One with very little attention paid to details."

"So what do we do now? Even if we had proof the trail was just some act, we can't very well go to the ministry and tell them our suspicions."

Snape thought for a moment. "I think the best thing for now is for us to pay Black a visit. I need to hear what went on in that back room before they brought him out to the courtroom. It could be very important."

"Us?" Remus asked.

"You have no idea what your looking for, Remus. I do."

Remus gave Snape a small, grateful smile. "I appreciate your help, Severus. It's right decent of you."

"'Decent' has nothing to do with it." Snape replied in a curt manner. "I simply have no desire to have Potter haunting me for the rest of my life because I didn't help his friend. And I'll have enough trouble out of his son for seven years as it is." 

Remus turned to Harry. "Are you going to cause Severus nothing but trouble, Harry?" He asked the child.

Harry looked up with a smile, still playing with the pillow. He shot off one of his more colorful words with a happy grin.

Remus returned it. "Good boy, Harry." 

"Don't encourage him." Snape stated drolly.

"They're going to read the verdict in a few hours. We'll have to hurry if we're going to see Sirius before that."

"I just need to get dressed." Snape answered, heading for his bedroom. "But in this, I want you to answer a question for me." He added, turning back to Remus as he reached the door to his bedroom.

"If I can."

"You profess how horrible Black felt about what happened in the tunnel. Why did he even do it? You say he talked endlessly about it for days. Surely in all that time at some point he must have said 'why'."

Remus stood silent for a few moments. "Yes." He said finally in a low voice. "He told us why he did it."

"And?"

"He said it was because he didn't think I would really hurt you. You and I were friends. Sirius knew that. And he said he didn't believe I would hurt my friend." Remus paused as his expression hardened a little bit. "So you see, Severus, you really can't blame him entirely. He just didn't understand."

"Understand what?"

"The wolf has no friends." Remus said flatly.

"You're wrong." Snape replied in an equally flat tone, "Because standing there before you that night, I didn't believe you would have done it either." Snape stopped for a moment as he studied the man before him. "You were my friend then," he added in a confidential tone, "and I fought for that friendship after that, and I remained your friend until I made the worst mistake of my life. So, I guess I can't blame Black entirely, since I apparently made the same mistake he did."

Snape stepped through the door, closing it after him. 

Remus stood staring at the door for a very long time before he turned to the floor, shaking his head. "The worst mistake of your life, Severus, was thinking I stopped being your friend that day." He said quietly.

Q&A

Tried And Convicted

Nagini: (Who else?) Yes! Support Services is a good thing, and well worth the pennies it costs.

Sirius seems pathetic? Ha! You haven't seen pathetic yet!

P.A.R. is sorry she made Nagini cry. Would Nagini maybe like bad P.A.R. to be making the stories a little less sad? (Somehow I don't think Wolf Of Solitude would go for that, though.)

No. No. Bad Nagini. No be poking Sirius! Leave him to sulk!

How can I answer that last question? That's the whole point of the story, Dear?

*Grabs Harry away from Nagini.* Not while I'm writing about him, Dear.

Mayleesa: Thank you. But please, not to be slapping Sirius. The poor man has enough troubles. What with Nagini poking him and all.

Whisp! Course I missed ya', Whisp!

Even if Harry gets his Pafoot back soon, poor Remus will likely still be suffering hair loss. Then he goes from having one child to two.

No! No killing Snape. I so need him in Family Relations. And I don't think Bored Beyond Belief is done with him either yet in their story. Ohhhhhhhh, you really need to check that one out, Whisp! It's great. (Never Alone, Never Again I think is the title.).

Ohhhhh! I like that. 'Obviously tampered with'. PROOF, Dear. I want PROOF!

Can't comment on the second part.

*Hugs Whisp back.* Thank you! P.A.R. feels very bad about the poor little bird. Cried like a three year old.

purple water: *P.A.R. sits looking very stunned.* 

What are you? Some sort of a lawyer? (Ummmm, if you are, P.A.R. is in need of a lawyer.).

Anyway, MAN! Did you ever pull one over on old P.A.R.. You found something even I didn't notice. (And I wrote this thing.).

You're absolutely right. The question was indeed, 'Do you have a reason to lie'. And that was some seriously deep reasoning you got into. P.A.R. had to read that one a few times! SO, *slaps a gold star on purple water's forehead.*, wear it proudly, Dear. You earned it!

The whole Deatheater question reasons out much like you said. And if you reason it out the way you did it simply shows that the question was not properly phrased. That was part of the reasoning behind the 'Are you lying' question.

Ohhhhh, thank you for jumping OFF the 'Imperious' bandwagon. The story is far enough along that I feel I can at least say, 'No, folks. Sirius was not under an Imperious Curse. So just get off that bandwagon. Everybody.....off!'

You know, I like theories and I hate them. I like them because, lets face it, they're fun. I hate them because they usually have a lot better story plots than what I came up with. And all I can say here is, Good Heavens! Why are you sitting here reading my stuff? Go write your own! Geez! Those are some outstanding theories! The 'Deatheater' one really covers those bases.

Oh! And P.A.R. did not mean for you to run out and read The Bonds That Tie. I mean, I'm glad you did. Thank you! But it wasn't completely necessary. You could have gotten something out of Tried And Convicted without it, just not as much.

And no, I'm sorry, the Elite were not mentioned in The Bonds That Tie directly.

Of course the James thing was fluffy. It was suppose to be. Cliche? Maybe.

Katlin wasn't implying anything, Dear. She was a Deatheater and proud of it! In fact, the only implication by Katlin was where your Elite came into the story. Katlin is sort of a running OC. She's in a lot of stories due to her relationship with another character. Katlin is, in fact, an Elite. And she's not just any Elite, she's THE Elite. She is the head of that select group and where Voldemort is concerned, she's definitely 'daddy's little girl'. Now, that is not to imply Katlin is Voldemort's daughter. She's not. She is, in fact, an orphan. But when it comes to getting things done the Voldemort Way, no one does it quite like good old Katlin. Katlin sort of views most people she meets as 'killing you would solve 97% of the problems I have with you right now, and the other 3% won't matter after that'.

Yes, Katlin does have the dark mark. But that's because she couldn't be prouder of what she is if you tattooed it across her forehead. The 'Elite thing' came into the story because it explains how Sirius can claim he's a Deatheater but not have the dark mark. It's a plot device, you see, Dear.

I'm glad you appreciate my attempts at humor. Personally, my favorite will always be from Family Life, where Arabella is sitting in front of Harry and states, 'I'm really more of a dog person'. So few people caught that one. I applaud those of you that did. (That's grossly out of context, by the way.)

I'm sorry if you didn't get as much out of The Bonds That Tie as you were looking for, but I do appreciate the review. Again, thank you.

I found reading your review an interesting challenge. I enjoyed it.

Your laptop wouldn't be a Dell by any chance, would it, Dear? I worked for Dell for a time in 2000-2001, and we had a very common keyboard problem much like the one you are describing in Dell Latitudes. And there is a fix for it. 

Dear, what is Verdana?

Nicky: Well, who doesn't love Sirius/Remus confrontations? Unless, like in this chapter, its a good Remus/Snape confrontation.

All I'm saying about the whole picture thing was that was the answer to Remus' request for help from James and Lily. The first part of this chapter took it a little more in depth, but not much. On things like that I am sort of purposefully a little vague because I'm for letting the reader get out of it what they will. So, go where the spirit moves you, Dear.

vmr: Thank you.

Silverfox: Wait a minute! You don't love Sirius!? But.....but..........EVERYBODY loves Sirius!

O.K., let me try and cover this a little about James. You see, the fact of the matter is that when I wrote The Bonds That Tie, I had no intention of sequeling the story. It was suppose to be a one-shot. The sequel evolved solely out of reader request. So you see, I never intended to revisit the 'James' issue for this story. However, lingering somewhere in the back of my mind was the idea to bring James back in a different story as a spirit for another one-shot story. I just haven't got there yet. So, did James mean help him with his illness only once or help him at all only once? Believe it or not, I think I probably meant the ladder when I wrote the story originally. But honestly, do you really think if Harry were in danger or Sirius needed help that James would refuse to help in some way? Just look at this story.

Oh, Dear, don't go back and try and get anything more out of those questions. Just keep going forward and that will all get sort of sorted out later. You don't have enough information yet to get everything out of the questions you could have. There was a reason for everything to happen the way it did. Just give it time.

What went on between Severus and Dumbledore while Remus was visiting Sirius? Nothing, Dear. Sorry. Severus isn't dedicating a lot of time to Sirius right now. It's sort of a 'good riddance' thing on Snape's part right then.

UnrepentantReader: Oh dear! Been there, done that, have the tee-shirt. I can not tell you how many times I have sat at the keyboard for a good thirty-minutes and typed my little fingers off only to have the whole thing blown away for any one of a hundred stupid little reasons. Yes. Very frustrating! Anyway, I'm glad you're having fun, Dear.

Sailor Sol: OHHHHHHHHHH! *P.A.R. looks very happy.* I already have a reader for Enemies! Yeah! But I think you'll find the writing style somewhat different. Enemies is, after all, with the exception of the world it is being written in, an original story and I think totally OC.

All right, Dear. I won't make them less interesting. But remember, you ask for it. So, no more complaining about the cliffhangers, all right?

Zimmy Russell: No, Zim, I can't answer that.

Ummmm, about the 'slapping' thing, you did read the Author's Notes, right?

You live around Orlando, right? Yeah, it pretty much rains there everyday. Ya'll (perfectly good word) got that whole sea breeze thing going on. In the middle of the state, we're more hit or miss with the rain. Currently I'm sitting here typing this, watching it rain like crazy across the lake, while it's barely got the ground wet on our side.

It is pretty though.

Doom Song: Nope. Sorry. Snape doesn't know Peter was a Deatheater. The reason he is being singled out by James comes up later in the story.

sweets: Snape's just not letting a grudge go.

O.K., I'll give ya' Brownie Points for realizing James and Lily were there. But Harry coming down with what basket, Dear? All I remember him carrying was his blanket.

Karla: What am I up too? Why, no good, Dear, of course!

If Sirius is loosing it, can you really blame him? But for now he's tied a knot in the end of his sanity rope and is holding on for dear life.

Dear, your whole first paragraph I can't comment on directly because it's a rather large part of the story. Hope you understand. However, I can say just that Sirius' confusion is coming out of that he 'knows' he was given Veritaserum, and he heard himself answer the questions just like everyone else. But he feels he knows he didn't betray James and Lily, and yet he said, under Veritaserum, that he did. That's kind of an interesting paradox for anyone to work with. It's like saying you know you didn't rob the store, but you're the one on the surveillance tape. In the wizarding world, I would think Veritaserum is pretty cut and dry evidence.

O.K., I can't outright give you a gold star this week, because purple water already got it. But I am slipping you one under the counter because you realized (and mentioned) that Harry was seeing his parents in the corner of the room and that was who he was responding to. (Thank heavens SOMEONE got that!).

Ummmmm, your a little too close to the bulls-eye for my liking this early in the story with the whole Severus thing over all, Dear.

And Remus never noticed Severus in the picture before because people move about and come and go in pictures. James just sort of 'dragged' Severus a bit more to the forefront.

The question about 'if Dumbledore wasn't going to get Severus to cooperate, was Remus?', was answered in this chapter.

Your line of thought was incredibly well laid out, Dear, and very easy to follow. But good heavens! English isn't your native tongue!!!!? I'd have absolutely never guessed that! Have you mentioned that before and poor old P.A.R. forgot?

Siriusly Bored

~*~Dark Luna Angel~*~: Thank you.

Family Life

nessie: I am working very hard on the Sequel to Family Life. Look for it in the Fall. Thanks for the review.

The Bonds That Tie 

Mistress Cresacre: Oh, dear! I think I missed you last time! So sorry!

The answers to most of, if not all, your questions is in The Bonds That Tie sequel, Tried And Convicted.

All reviews are as of 08212002. Please let me know if I missed you.

Remember,

we have enough youth. How about a Fountain of Smart?

See you Sunday, barring....well, you know. 


	5. Chapter Five: This Won't Hurt A Bit

A/N: Again, I don't have much to say. But at least this time I didn't hit any small animals either. Other than that I would just say please understand I didn't have a lot of time to proof read this too carefully. There may be spelling errors.

Enjoy.

****

Tried And Convicted 

****

CHAPTER FIVE: THIS WON'T HURT A BIT

Remus hated going back to the ministry. It wasn't just the fresh memory of the trail. Or even his memories of the last time he had been to the ministry jail. Something about the building had always made him feel uneasy. A feeling that every time he entered it, he would never find his way out. And so he walked behind Snape, practically burying himself in his tattered old robes as Snape constantly tried to hurry him along.

Although it was only a few hours before Sirius' trial verdict was to be read, Dumbledore had made arrangements for Remus and Snape to be allowed a last visit with Sirius. He hadn't wanted to alert the ministry that they were suspicious of anything being wrong, and so Remus and Snape had been presented as simply as friends coming to visit Sirius. Once at the jail, however, Snape, with a small business card in hand, had presented himself as Sirius' solicitor, a role that would allow them to see Sirius alone, without a guard standing watch. The guards at first had questioned what Sirius needed to see his solicitor about, since his trial was already over and the verdict would soon be handed in. But Snape had aloofly stated that Black had a considerable estate that needed to be seen to and he was there to help the man settle his affairs. 

Inside the jail cell Sirius sat on the floor, staring at the wall in front of him. Remus could never once in his life remember his friend's expression ever looking so haunted or his face quite as drawn and pale.

"Sirius?" Remus called, trying to keep the apprehension out of his voice. "How are you?"

Sirius made no move to even look at the two men outside of his cell.

"Sirius?" Remus called again. But after even so short a time, Snape had lost patience, pulling Remus back as he stepped up to the bars of the cell.

"Black!" He stated firmly.

Sirius made no move.

"So," Snape said in a low, slow drawl, "they've finally put you where you belong and you're just going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself. And you expect anyone to care? Maybe the werewolf. Maybe even Dumbledore. But you think I feel any sympathy for you? As far as I'm concerned, you've ended up right where you belong. In a cell. Headed for Azkaban."

"Severus!" Remus stated sharply.

"Well, what is the point, Lupin?" Snape shot back. "Look at the man. He's practically catatonic already. Not much of a meal for the Dementors. But I'm sure a small one will like him."

Remus shoved Snape aside as he quickly crouched down next to the bars. "Sirius, listen to me. What about Harry? What's going to happen to Harry if you're convicted?"

The statement got a small laugh out of Sirius. A response that surprised Remus completely.

"Convicted?" He asked, turning slowly to Remus. "They don't need to convict me, Remus. I've done that for them. I've done that to myself."

"Sirius!" Remus stated sharply. "Listen to me. You did not kill James and Lily. I know that and you know that."

"Remus, I confessed to it." Sirius replied quietly. "How much more proof do you need than that? I confessed to it under Veritaserum. So I must have done it. Maybe....maybe the Deatheaters placed some spell on me to make me forget what I did. Maybe I wasn't suppose to remember it. Maybe that was part of Voldemort's plan to keep anyone from finding out."

Remus looked stunned at Sirius' reasoning. "Sirius, if you were a Deatheater, I think you would know it."

"Maybe they made me forget that too."

"Sound reasoning." Snape offered, earning himself an elbow in the shin from Remus.

"Sirius, listen to me." Remus said.

Sirius turned back to his friend.

"Sirius, you did not betray James and Lily."

"How do you know? I admitted to it, Remus."

"Because I know you. And you would never have done that, Sirius. James was your friend."

"Oh, honestly." Snape stated, pulling Lupin away from the bars. "If you're going to rely on sentimentality to solve this matter, we'll be here until Black is too senile for any Dementor to want him. Even the little ones." Snape took Remus' place at the bars, staring intently at the man before him. "Black!" He stated directly. "Did you betray James and Lily Potter?"

Sirius looked at the man for a moment. "I...."

"Don't think about it!" Snape snapped at him. "Listen to me. Just answer each question. Don't sit there and think about it. Answer it the way you first feel. Did you betray your friends to the dark lord?"

"No." Sirius only hesitated a second before answering. Giving Snape the answer he believed deep within himself to be the truth.

"Did you knowingly have anything to do with James and Lily's murderers?"

This time Sirius answered almost immediately. "No."

"Would you ever have betrayed them?"

"No!" Sirius answered the last question with a sharp determination in his voice.

"Are you a Deatheater?"

"No!" Sirius stated again with the same conviction in his voice.

Snape stood back up, facing Remus with an overly pleased smile on his face. "And that, Lupin, is how you know if the man is telling the truth or not."

"Just like that?"

"You might have actually learned something if you'd have paid attention in potions." Snape replied. "A man who is under the effects of a potion, or a spell, to make him forget something, will hesitate in his answers. Not so much that a common person would notice. But a trained ear will hear it." Snape turned back to Sirius. "There's no spell on you to make you forget any of your past, Black. If you don't remember being a Deatheater, or betraying your friends, it's because you didn't do it."

"But I admitted to it. Under Veritaserum."

"You lied."

Sirius thought about that one for a moment. "But.....but that's not possible."

Snape sighed and turned back to Lupin. "I can't convince a man he's innocent if he's just going to fight me the entire way." 

"Sirius," Remus pleaded, "Snape feels that maybe something isn't right. That maybe the ministry is up to something.....unscrupulous. But he needs to asked you some questions. Please, listen to what he asks you...and try to remember. All right?"

Sirius sighed quietly and turned back to the wall. But he nodded to Remus' request just the same.

Snape took Remus' place again, although this time he remained standing. But he asked the questions in a low voice. Speaking just loud enough that Sirius could hear him.

"I want you to think back to when you and Lupin went to the ministry that morning, Black. You came to the ministry. Then what happened from there? And be detailed. Even the smallest thing could be important."

Sirius sat for a few moments as he thought back. 

"We came into the ministry building," Sirius replied quietly as he continued to stare vacantly at the wall before him, "and they told Remus to go wait in the courtroom. That they had a seat reserved for he and Harry. Harry got upset when I handed him over to Remus. He hates my giving him to someone else."

"Touching." Snape replied in a bored tone. "Go on."

"They took me to a small room just down the corridor, and told me to wait there. That a man would come shortly and would give me the Veritaserum. Then I would be taken to the courtroom."

"That's not right at all." Snape replied. "Are you sure they said one man would come?"

Sirius thought for a minute. "No. They said.....several people would come."

"Then why did you say 'one'? Details, Black! Make sure your details are right."

"I....I thought that was right. That they said one man would come."

"Why?"

"A few minutes later just one man came in." Sirius paused again for a few seconds as he thought back over the series of events in his mind. "I asked him where the others were, and he told me that they had been delayed and he was to go ahead and give me the Veritaserum and take me to the courtroom."

Remus started to say something, but Snape waved him off.

"Then what happened?"

"The man took me to the courtroom....."

"Before that!" Snape stated impatiently. "It's very important."

"I told you. The man gave me the Veritaserum."

"No. You only said before that he told you he was going to give it to you. Then you skipped right to the courtroom." Snape crouched down by the bars, staring intently at Sirius. "Now listen to me." He said in a low, measured voice. "I need you to go step by step. I need to hear every detail from now on. It is very important, Black. If you stubbed your toe on the way to the courtroom, I want you to tell me. Do you understand?"

Sirius stared back at the man, then nodded slightly.

"All right then. You were in the room with this man. Then what happened?"

"He pulled out a vile and gave it to me."

"A vile? Not a cup?"

"No. A vile."

"What color was the potion inside?"

Sirius thought for a long time. "It was clear. It had no color at all."

"What did it taste like?"

"It.....it was tasteless. Like water. And the same consistency."

"What happened then?"

"I drank it." 

"And?"

"I handed the vile back to him and he told me to wait a few minutes and he would take me to the courtroom then."

"And what did the man do with this vile?"

"He put it back in his robes."

Snape stood back up, his head resting against his long, pale fingers as he seemed to think things over for a few moments.

"Tell me what this man looked like."

"He was a short man. Maybe five foot six. He was balding on top, with brown hair. Clean shaven. He wore a black robe, with a tailored suit underneath."

"Did he wear any jewelry? Anything at all you remember?"

Sirius thought for a moment. But a sudden look of surprise came over his expression.

"He wore a ring. A large gold one. I remember it because he kept tapping it against the vile while we waited for the Veritaserum to take effect. I remember.....wondering what was making the clicking noise. And I looked up and saw that ring. I was going to ask him about it, but.....that's the last thing I remember. The next thing I knew I was in the courtroom, answering questions."

Remus glanced over at Snape.

"Do you know who the man was?" He asked.

"Oh yes." Snape replied with a small, tight smile.

"And?"

"Avery Trennerson. Voldemort's Potions Master."

"What!?" Remus shot back. "His......Voldemort's potions master....walked right into the ministry without anyone questioning it?"

"I doubt that." Snape replied calmly. "A more likely scenario is that he works here."

Remus stood for a moment staring at Snape. "Works here?" He asked flatly.

"Well what did you think, Lupin?" Snape asked. "That every Deatheater is independently wealthy? Or that Voldemort supports the whole lot of them? Most of them, like a great many people, work for a living. Just because they're Deatheaters doesn't make them suddenly immune from needing food and shelter. Or did you think they ran about the streets, waving the Dark Mark in peoples faces, and proclaiming their affiliation to the dark lord? You could have a half dozen of them standing next to you at a bus stop and not know it. And since potion brewing is one of his strong points, and no one seemed surprised to see him about, my guess is that Avery Trennerson works for the ministry as a potions brewer."

Remus still looked stunned as Snape crouched back by the bars and turned back to Sirius.

"What happened next?" He ask.

"I told you, the next thing I remember was I was in the courtroom answering questions."

"You don't remember anything between the time you saw the man's ring and then being in the courtroom?"

Sirius shook his head.

"Think!" Snape stated in a low, sharp hiss. "It's very important. Do you remember anything? Anything at all?"

Sirius had taken to staring at the wall opposite him in silence again. After a few moments he shook his head again. "Nothing. It was like.....I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them again, I was in the courtroom. I can't remember anything inbetween those two events."

"What about when you were in the courtroom. What was going on as you saw things?"

Sirius thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I...remember this man...Avery....asking me questions. But....they weren't right."

"What do you mean, 'not right'?"

"He would asked the questions and I would answer them. I've never had Veritaserum before, but I've seen it used on others. And I've heard what it feels like. It's like.....you answer the questions, but you aren't really in control of it. You're more like a spectator sitting there watching yourself. You have no control. No will of your own."

"That would be correct." Snape replied.

But Sirius looked up at him. "But that wasn't what it felt like."

Snape suddenly looked very interested. "Then what did it feel like to you?"

Sirius gave a slight shudder as he turned back to the wall. "The man asked me the first question, and I just tried to relax and let the Veritaserum answer for me. I was that sure of the answer I would give. I could even picture myself in my mind saying it. But then this other answer came into my mind, and I felt myself saying that instead. I was....so utterly taken off guard, I couldn't even begin to think to try and stop myself. And then, before I could even register what had just happened, the man asked the second question. And then the third. He was going too fast for me to stop and think."

"He didn't want you to think, Black. That was half the point." Snape put in quickly. "Then what happened?"

"After a few questions, I still didn't know what was happening, but I knew I had to stop it. When he asked the next question, I fought with every ounce will I had left to give a different answer. To give the one I wanted to. The one I was thinking. But that didn't work."

"But it did." Remus spoke up suddenly. 

But Snape waved him off again. "Then what?"

"The man asked a series of questions in rapid succession. I couldn't think fast enough to try and force out a different answer. But then he stopped in the questioning. He was talking to someone else. It gave me a little time to gather my senses back about me. And I thought, since I couldn't seem to will myself to answer the way I wanted to, I concentrate instead on simply not answering at all. I would concentrate on staying silent."

"And did you succeed?"

"Yes!" Remus piped up happily from behind Snape.

Snape turned an irritated look at Remus. "Well?"

"The man asked Sirius a question, near the end of the trial. And Sirius paused. He hesitated in answering it. He started to say something, but then he just stopped. He just sat there and didn't answer."

"And what was Trennerson's explanation to this?" Snape questioned, his sneer growing by the moment. "It should be fascinating."

Remus thought for a moment to remember. "He said that the question hadn't been phrased right. That questions under Veritaserum have to be phrased a certain way or the person will become confused and won't answer them at all. He offered to try again, but the judges didn't seem interested."

Snape's sneer only deepened. "Do try to imagine my surprise." He drawled.

"Well?" Remus asked.

"Whatever they gave Black," The Potions Master replied, as he stood back up, a very satisfied smile on his lips now, "I would bet everything I know about potions that it wasn't Veritaserum."

"How so?" Remus asked.

"From what the both of you are describing, Black was fighting whatever he was given. No one can successfully fight Veritaserum that I have ever heard of. Maybe an extremely powerful wizard might be able to hinder the effects a bit, but Black hardly falls into that category."

Remus looked a bit worried that Sirius didn't rise to the bait, but only continued to listen to Snape.

"What Black was doing," Snape went on, "was effectively fighting whatever the potion was. By the end of the questioning, he was successfully fighting it. My guess would be that Trennerson had a whole list of questions he never got to use. Most likely by the time he got done with Black, he'd have had the whole courtroom believing the man was the dark lord himself. But Trennerson was likely as stunned as everyone else when Black started to refuse to answer and abruptly cut off the questioning before things got any worse and the judges started to actually think about things." 

Sirius looked as stunned as Remus. "Are you sure?" He asked, a tinge of hope in his voice.

"I would stake everything I know about potions on one thing, Black. Whatever you were given, it was not Veritaserum. But," Snape added, "just to be safe, let's make sure."

Sirius looked up to see Snape pulling a long, thin knife out of his robes.

"Give me your arm, Black." Snape stated.

"What are you going to do?" Sirius asked, making no move to give Snape any part of his body.

"I need a little of your blood to run some tests on." Snape gave him a sadistic smile. "I swear, it won't hurt a bit."

Sirius eyed the knife for a moment, then slowly inched his arm through the bars. As soon as it was clear enough of them, Snape grabbed his wrist and quickly cut a deep gash in his lower arm just above the wrist. Sirius yelped in pain and tried to pull his hand back. But Snape held onto it until a red line of blood appeared in the skin. He then ran the blade of the knife through it before releasing Sirius' wrist finally.

"Keep it covered and don't let anyone see the cut." Snape advised. "I'd prefer it was healed completely. But since they don't allow wands back here, just do what you can that no one sees it. Otherwise they may get suspicious as to what we're up to."

"If they don't allow wands, how did you get a knife past them?"

Snape gave him a shallow smile. "I could have brought a hippogriff back here if I had wanted to, Black. It really isn't hard when you know how."

Remus tapped Snape on the shoulder. "The verdict reading is in an hour. We have to get to the ministry." Remus quickly leaned down towards the bars. "Don't worry, Sirius." He told his friend. "This is going to work out, you'll see."

Remus pulled back and headed quickly down the hallway. Snape paused for a moment outside Sirius' cell as the man looked up at him. His expression spoke of anything but his belief in Remus' last statement. But just as quickly he turned his head and laid it on his arms over his knees. Snape paused for a few more seconds, but Sirius didn't look up again. Finally he turned and headed down the corridor after Remus.

Q&A (Yeah!)

See, P.A.R. makes a little rhyme again.

Nagini: AGAIN?!

Oh well.

Harry plushi? They have Harry Plushies? Where? (Personally, I want a Sirius or Remus plushie. THAT'D be fun to squeeze!) (Or an Alan Rickman Plushie! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!)(Where'd all this droll on my computer desk come from?!)

Actually, yeah, watching Querrill in The Sorcerer's Stone, that thought did come to mind. Interesting though, since, if I'm not wrong, didn't the first Harry Potter come out before The Mummy? I'm not sure. I'm bad at time lines. The book, by the way, not the movie. And the effects did look somewhat familiar.)

Sailor Sol: Well, he's being as sociable as Snape can be.

Well, I'm still a bit apprehensive about how Enemies will be received. I've never done a totally OC story that I've posted before. But I suppose we'll see.

I agree with you. Cliffhangers are nail biters to the bitter end. But they're also a lot of fun. After all, waiting is half the fun.

Mayleesa: Well, currently not everyone is happy about Harry language skills. Especially poor Remus.

So glad you liked the chapter.

Storyspindler: Well, I really thought the flares and thirty piece orchestra I hired to announce my return would do it for everybody. But.........oh, well.

P.A.R. is sorry she made you cry, Dear. But I think The Bonds That Tie did come with some sort of major warning about that. It was, after all, an anguishy story.

Very happy your computer is fixed. I know how crazy I go when mine is on the fritz.

If your wondering, I post every Sunday and Wednesday, between 6PM and 10Pm EST, Internet permitting and no upsets in my schedule.

RavenLady: Harry was very cute in the last chapter, no doubt about it. But I do think you'd have trouble attaching that tag to Snape in any of my stories to date.

Nicky: Well..........., maybe it wasn't quite the confrontation you had pictured. But then, Sirius isn't quite up to par either.

I'm glad you liked the closing line. I was having a bit of trouble ending that chapter. And that was the only place I could find to stop that suited me at the moment.

Silverfox: You're indifferent to him!? How can you be indifferent? *Sniff.* How can anyone be indifferent to Sirius. Poor Sirius.

Indeed, if I go on with this story arc anymore, James and Lily can only 'reveal' themselves to Sirius and Harry. But they can influence objects in the mortal world. But they can't speak directly to or appear to anyone else. (Boy, is that ever an overused plot device.)

I see old Dumbledore as knowing people a little better sometimes than they know themselves. And I reasoned in this story that he felt that if he just left everyone alone that they would eventually work things out. Besides, it was very unlikely that Snape would just sit back and watch Sirius go to Azkaban without trying to do anything to help.

Fire Spirit: I'm glad you enjoyed The Bonds That Tie. It isn't necessary to read that to read Tried And Convicted, but as you found out, it does help understand it a little better.

purple water: *P.A.R. grabs her computer screen.* Nooooooooooooo! Don't stop posting theories. I love them!

As for the theory, quite possibly Sirius would have gone with Katlin (said Deatheater) to make sure Harry was safe. But would having let the Deatheaters have Harry been 'safe'? Even though Katlin swore Voldemort wasn't going to hurt Harry, would you have honestly believed a Deatheater?

Indeed! Who is more competent that Snape when it comes to potions!

Your theory is interesting. Wrong. But interesting. It has potential though. I might incorporate it somewhere someday. You will, of course, be fully credited for the idea.

I think you are too hard on yourself saying your writing isn't that good. Do you ever re-read your comments? Your reviews are so well thought out I'm amazed most of the time. Some of these things show more time going into them than most stories I see. They are also very well articulated. I can, for the most part, follow what your trying to get across. Which is occasionally a bit of a challenge, not because the writing is bad, but because your theories get so complicated, I can't believe you came up with some of this stuff. A lot of this would really make a good story. Especially this last one. But please, don't keep your theories to yourself. I really enjoy them.

I'm glad you liked the tree explanation.

Harry's language skills (or lack thereof) is sort of a running joke in this story arc. Most of my stories have some sort of a running joke in them. In Family Life it was the fact that whenever Sirius and Arabella ever got into some good snogging, Harry would walk in on them. (Well, almost ever time.). And yes, I'm the first one to say that things were a little over done the last time.

Sorry. The Dell solution is only for Dell's. It was one of two things. Either you had to light up all the keyboard keys and then do I think a VCache erase, or replace your motherboard if that didn't work. But it was a very common problem with Dell laptops at the time.

Mr. Happy Java Man: You want me to forgive you because you were on vacation? Go read lilahp's answer. Honestly! *Sighs.* What I wouldn't give for a vacation. But all right, yes, I understand.

Actually, Snape and Lupin (in the universe according to P.A.R.) remained friends after the joke. The break-up of the friendship didn't come until they graduated. And then it was for different reasons. 

lilahp: If I'm in it, Dear, you got the right line for The Fountain of Smart.

First of all, you were on vacation. You want me to feel SORRY for you?

P.A.R. does feel sorry about the Laryngitis thing. P.A.R. has had that. And as a singer, let me tell you, it is not fun. And a bit scary. You have no idea how your voice will come back.

I understand about the medication thing, Dear. Believe me. I am quite tired of hearing 'well, maybe you have 'this', so that this medication and see if it clears up'. I'm sorry. I am not a white lab rat and I do not randomly take medication.

Anger is usually a very good motivator. However, I'll clue you into something. I've used it in this story arc. And I hate to repeat myself in stories. I like to think one of things that keeps you guys coming back is that I try to be original. And I think instead you'll see that Sirius has learned a little from his experiences and how he handles things.

Harry is, unfortunately, not a major player in this story.

The ministries current feeling about Sirius is they need a warm body. And his is (currently) warm.

Yoda and Dumbledore locked in a room together? Hmmmmm? *P.A.R. digs into her wallet and pulls out some cash.* O.K.. Yeah. I'd pay to see that.

My father is doing very well. Thanks for asking.

My job situation is so weird, I think few people could follow things right now without a score card.

Ah, no. Sorry. Orion isn't in this story at all. And the reason this one went up before Enemies is because that story is turning into a bugger to write.

As for 'Larger Matters', I'm afraid I'm playing pretty straight with you guys on this one. It's kind of a 'what you see is what you get' sort of story. Everything is eventually explained. But hang on to hope for 'Larger Matters' theories and plots with Enemies. That story has so much going on behind the scenes, it's driving me nuts. And is a large part of what is making writing it so hard.

Writers Conference, Huh? I'll give you some advice here. Writers Conferences are fun. They are, in fact, a blast. I've been to a lot of them. But you know something? By the third one, I was hearing the same advice over and over. They can only tell you so much and give so much help. However, as a 'meet and greet' they can't be beat. It's a wonderful opportunity to network with other writers and editors and agents. P.A.R. learned very early the power of the words 'Can I buy you a drink?'. But still, for starting up a relationship with an agent or editor, nothing beats those Science Fiction conventions! That's where I met my editor!

I would gladly do almost anything asked to be the person in charge (editor) of the business deals to put out fanfiction books of Harry Potter! Come on, Warner Brothers! Opportunity is practically knocking your door down here! Think of the money!

But in all fairness, I believe the situation is that, while Rowling sold the rights her books, she did not sell the rights to the characters. Smart woman.

Let me see..........money, fame, people adore you everywhere you go except a few fanatics from the stone age who are criticizing books they haven't even read, and a few life problems verses my life...........hmmmmmm? Yeah! I'll trade!

A Harry Potter convention in Florida? That could be interesting for P.A.R.. And I'll tell you why. You see, in Florida, since I live there, P.A.R. is VERY well known at Science Fiction conventions. I knows the people who go to them. I knows the people who run them because I used to be a guest 'way back when' quite a bit. I've partied with both for YEARS! The problem evolves out of this. A lot of people who go to Science Fiction conventions would also go to a Harry Potter Convention. (Not a lot of difference there.) A lot of those people not only know me, they know me as P.A.R.. That could be interesting. Someone walking up to me at such a convention and saying 'Ohmagosh! YOU'RE P.A.R.?' could have you witnessing the first muggle able to disapparate on the spot. But thanks for the information just the same. I'll probably think about it anyway. Depends a lot on where it is. 

Karla: Oh, rats! That's right. P.A.R. remembers now! I was very surprised I was being read in Brazil. You must forgive P.A.R., Karla. She's old-er. Mind going and all that.

Actually, I am as pleased as pleased can be with my hit count. It's now over 13,000. Yeah, P.A.R.!

Someday I'll have to look back and see whose got the most gold stars. You or Whisp.

Yup. Sirius' fate is very much in Severus' hands. Scary, huh?

Don't base Sirius' reaction to the situation on what's happened in this chapter. That relationship has got a lot more turns to go through before this is finished. Also, Sirius is still in a bit of a state of shock. He's been through an awful lot. And consider that the passage of time here has only been about 24 hours. That's a lot to take in in so little time. Poor Sirius.

P.A.R. loves writing about Severus and Remus confrontations. There's so much history there in my universe. 

Heeheehee. The question, Dear, isn't 'will Severus recognize Trennerson?'. But that comes up later. So, darn it, I can't say anything. But think about it, and the position it would put a certain someone in.

Reviews are as of 08242002.

I'm only wearing black until they make something darker.


	6. Chapter Six: Destroying Evidence

A/N: Yeah. I got somethin' to say this time. And ya' ain't gonna like it one bit. Folks, for some reason, the chapters are going to get a lot shorter. No idea why. Don't know what happened. I just suddenly seemed to have started writing really short chapters. Sorry.

Enjoy.

****

Tried And Convicted

****

CHAPTER SIX: DESTROYING EVIDENCE 

Trennerson watched from his office window as Snape and the other man left the ministry office building. 

Why had they come? 

The brown haired man he didn't care much about. But Snape. Now there was a dangerous man if ever there was one. Shrewd, cunning, and as bad tempered as they came, there were few within the ranks of the Deatheaters that even wished to tangle with the man. Voldemort had been trying to recruit him even before he had gone to work for Dumbledore as the potions master of his school. Once he joined the school's staff, Snape's position there only seemed to make him that much more desirable as a recruit to Voldemort. When Snape had finally agreed to join Voldemort's followers, Trennerson knew it spelled deep trouble for him. For he felt he knew very well knew why Voldemort was trying so hard to bring the Hogwart's potions master into his fold. A few too many mistakes had placed him well out of the dark lord's favor. Snape would be a highly prized replacement for him. 

But why was the potions master coming to visit Black? Had he come on Voldemort's orders? Trennerson knew he couldn't go to Voldemort and question the dark lord on the matter. Placing himself in Voldemort's presence at the moment would likely only end in a curse for him. Voldemort had given him the task of getting the Auror Black convicted of the Potters' murders. And that was all he was told to concern himself with.

Trennerson had no idea why the dark lord wanted Black convicted of the Potters' murders. But he also had the good sense not to ask. Others suggested the dark lord found it amusing that the ministry would try, convict, and sentence to the Dementors Kiss one of their own for a crime he was, in fact, completely innocent of. But such was the man's sense of humor. The task for him, plain and simple, was a chance to redeem himself that Voldemort had suggested quite strongly he not fail in. And he had no real evidence to take to Voldemort that Snape was up to anything unscrupulous that might suggest the potions master was a traitor. 

Now there was a pleasant thought.

How very high in the dark lord's favor could he reestablish himself if he not only managed to complete his assigned task, but also brought the dark lord proof that Snape was a traitor.

Leaving his office, Trennerson headed for the jail. He was bound and determined to find out what Snape had been doing at the jail.

Down at the jail area, Trennerson had asked about the prisoner's visitors. That guards had told him the brown haired man had come by twice that day and that he had said he was simply a friend of the prisoner. Snape, they told him, had presented himself as Black's solicitor, who had come to help the man settle his affairs.

Trennerson did what he could to hide his shock at the statement. Snape acting as Black's solicitor? Why would he do such a thing? Trennerson had heard Snape speak about the man with others. He positively loathed him for reasons Trennerson had never bothered to investigate further. And now he was ready to act on Black's behalf? That made no sense at all.

"I need to make one last check of the prisoner for the night." Trennerson told the guards. "Make sure he isn't having any reactions to the potion."

The guard led Trennerson down the corridor without any further questions. It wasn't unheard of for prisoners to have any thing from mild to severe reactions to Veritaserum minutes, even hours, after they took the potion. And Trennerson often made one last check of prisoners before leaving for the day.

Down at the prisoner's cell, Trennerson asked Black a few customary questions. But whether or not Black answered them, Trennerson barely paid any attention. He was more concerned with other matters. Snape had been there for a reason. And he doubted very seriously it was to help the man in any way. Trennerson was about to leave when a small spot on the floor caught his attention. A small, perfectly circular patch of something dark red that had dried on the stone floor.

Blood!

Trennerson turned abruptly back to the cell.

"Stand up!" He commanded.

Sirius slowly got to his feet under the watchful gaze of the guard and Trennerson.

"Roll up your sleeves!" Trennerson demanded.

Sirius paused, then slowly rolled up each sleeve in turn and presented his arms to the man.

"Turn them over."

Sirius turned his arms over, his face an expressionless mask as he did so.

Trennerson's own expression shifted ever so slightly at the sight of the cut across Sirius' wrist.

"How did you get that?" He ask pointedly.

Sirius thought for a few seconds. "I cut it on the bench." He replied, indicating the wooden seat in the back of the cell.

Trennerson stood for a few moments studying the man before him, then turned and abruptly left the jail. 

Snape had come for Black's blood. He was likely going to test it for traces of Veritaserum. From that he'd learn the truth and then everything would probably start to unravel before they could do anything to stop it.

"I need to see the head of Ministry Justice." Trennerson told one of the guards. "Is he still here?"

Within minutes Trennerson was being led down another corridor towards the office of the head of the Ministry Justice Department.

"Avery Trennerson." The man behind the desk greeted him. "It has been a while. How are you? A bit late to be here still isn't it?"

"I was making one last check on the prisoner, Sirius Black." Trennerson told the man. "It's standard procedure when Veritaserum is used, for the prisoner to be checked several times for ill effects."

"I'm aware of procedure, Avery. Is there some problem?"

"Black was apparently still under the effects of the Veritaserum. I asked him a few standard questions. Then I asked him is he was planning to escape again."

"That was hardly standard, Avery."

"No. But Black escaped the ministry jail once before just a few months ago. And no one seemed to know how. Most speculate it was by dark magic. I thought it would be wise, as long as the Veritaserum was still effecting him, to ask."

"And?"

"Black told me that tomorrow night the Deatheaters are planning to attempt to free him. He said Voldemort was sending a number of his Elite."

The man behind the desk was on his feet. "Did Black say when?"

"No."

"We'll need to contact....."

But Trennerson cut the man off before he even got started. "Sir, perhaps there is a simple way to avoid any problems at all."

"How?"

"Move Black before the Deatheaters think. The judges will deliver their verdict in the morning. If we move him immediately to Azkaban, he'll be sent to the Dementors before the Deatheaters even know he's gone. I'm sure some sort of 'leak' could be arranged to get the news to the Deatheaters after Black is at Azkaban, and they'll likely call off the attack then."

The man slowly lowered himself back into the chair. A small smile playing across his face. "An excellent idea, Avery. And it'll solve our problem of Black a few days earlier as well."

"And no one would question the moving up of Black's sentence being carried out, since we have good cause to do so, if anyone bothers to question it at all."

Trennerson knew good and well two people at least would most definitely question the change of schedule. Snape and that meddlesome old School Headmaster, Dumbledore. But by the time questions started to be asked, Trennerson would long be gone. Once Black was taken to Azkaban and given to the Dementors, it would no longer be possible for him to stay in his position. Too many questions could be brought up. And it was likely only a matter of time before Snape started causing trouble.

Well, no matter. He would be long gone by then. Moved by Voldemort to a new assignment. And likely leaving this one high in the dark lord's favor, having eliminated one of the department's best Aurors. Arranging for him to be executed by his own people and branded a traitor. The dark lord would be most highly pleased. Perhaps he could get transferred back into his old position. Experimenting with potions. Work that would secure him back in the lair, where it was much safer and he could work undisturbed. A fitting reward indeed.

Trennerson left the minister's office with a pleased smile.

Q&A

Doom Song: Yes, it is very good. I think the writer is doing an excellent job with Snape. I haven't seen him portrayed this well since Starbright's It's A One Time Thing That Just Happens A Lot.

Lazy Unicorn Whisperer: Sorry about missing you last week, Whisp. You and Zim just missed my cut off date.

I don't know if I mentioned it or not, Whisp. But your story transmitted just fine with a few strange characters along for the ride. But it appears to still be readable and I am working on it. Give me a little time and I'll send something back. However, due to transmitting problems with my e-mail between you and me for some reason, I'll review this back to you via one of your stories. O.K.? But don't expect anything until the end of this story. This is taking up most of my time right now.

I think if Snape had refused still to help Sirius it definitely would have strained the friendship he has with Remus. Ended it? That I'm not so sure of.

All right, all right! Settle down! I'll give it to you that Sirius always blamed himself for James and Lily's murders. The phrasing of the questions had a lot to do with it, as this chapter showed. And the potion? Well, that remains to be seen.

I go back to Of Western Stars from time to time, and I believe I was or did read Cheating Death. I read so many parts of stories due to odd posting schedules, I very often lose track of what I was reading and never go back to them. These are, in fact, two such stories that fell into that category, I'm afraid. I'll have to look in on them and see where they are at now.

Vacation!? *Blows Whisp a raspberry.* Everybody seems to get to go on vacation but P.A.R.. (And 'no', the writing one doesn't count. I still had to work my real job. I just was vacationing from posting stories..)

By the way, Dear, a 'big five goldie' what? Or are you counting all those stars you've won again?

Zimmy Russell: Sorry I missed you last time, Zim. You came in just after the gate closed.

Yeah. No one can set someone straight quite like our favorite werewolf when he gets his back up, huh?

I was pretty sure you had said you lived in Orlando. City drives me crazy personally. They don't seem to know how to lay out streets in Orlando. Don't know why. Nothing downtown seems to be in a straight line, ya' know.

Oh, P.A.R. likes thunderstorms! Rain, clouds, wind. Give me a good old fashion Florida storm any day. I love 'em!

I don't know that Snape is a softy. But he definitely has a soft side.

Severus is a Deatheater at this point. But where he stands in that comes up later. However, the plot against Sirius is very well guarded and is sort of a 'need to know' basis. And currently, Severus doesn't need to know.

Same with all the little Deatheater people.

I thought someone else did the Special Effects for Harry Potter, not Industrial Light

and Magic.

Why Severus and Remus 'stopped' being friends is part of a story, called Proper Friends. That story also explains the reason Sirius and his brother are at odds ( which is also brought up in Family Relations). But that story is not due out this year at all. It is, however, a major story arc and will likely rival Family Life.

No, Dear. P.A.R. has not read or seen the movie The Princess Diaries.

sweets: *P.A.R. looks around.* Where's Nagini? She's usually first. *Shrugges.* Oh, well. Hey, sweets. You're first up this time.

Dear, I have no idea where that basket came from either. There's no basket in this entire story.

I think you'll find Snape's 'decency level' depends on what's motivating him. As I pointed out to Whisp, what do you think Remus would have done had Snape continued to refuse to help?

But I truly never saw him as never 'not helping'. If you can't get the man one way, drag his pride into it and you will likely have him every time.

Nicky: I think Snape will never pass up a chance to bait Sirius. But it served a purpose here that Remus caught onto. Snape was looking for a reaction, which he didn't get. Although in the story only Remus' worry was indicated, Snape was also a bit concerned that Sirius didn't 'rise to the challenge', as it were.

Snape's interest in Sirius right now is almost purely scientific. He has been handed a puzzle, and he has a very limited amount of time to figure it out.

Actually, Sirius' attitude of behaving like a three year old wherever he gets around Snape annoys me a bit. Especially since it is totally contradictory to his personality the rest of the time. Although I could never get away from the feeling from Book Four that the man's stairs aren't quite reaching all the way to the attic anymore.

Dark Whispers: Sirius is, without a doubt, one of P.A.R.'s all time favorite characters. I'd be hard pressed to ever do him real harm. I mean, as far as my stories go, he's still alive at the end of them, right?

Sailor Sol: Unfortunately, as that Enemies is almost completely OC, there are very few Harry Potter characters in it. About the only thing I am using in that story is the setting. Still, I hope my readers will like it. Especially that it is likely to be my first R rated story. And that is a very mild R rating. I just don't think it is appropriate for certain age groups, hence the rating.

Anyway, as always, thanks for the review. I really look forward to your opinion of Enemies.

Mayleesa: Ohhhh! A hug! Thank you!

UnrepentantReader: I liked the 'little Dementor' line too. And yes, Severus had quite a bit to do in this chapter.

lilahp: Actually, you might be surprised by Sirius reaction to all this in the end.

I hate to squash your hopes, Dear, but no Peter in this story. Sorry.

As for Sirius going away to The Rock....., yup, the clock is ticking. Especially after this chapter.

All right. I liked the Slytherin one best. By the way, how many Gryffindors does it take to screw in a light bulb? Just one. They hold the light bulb in the socket and the world revolves around them. (Not mine. 'Barrowed' it from an author who had a fanfiction by the name of something like How many? Go look for it. It was very funny. A whole collection of these things.)

Another one who I am eager looking forward to your opinion of Enemies.

Karla: Yes, Dear. He does. Right after Sirius.

As that this chapter is now up and read, I can answer 'that certain someone' question. The question, Dear, wasn't 'will Snape recognize Trennerson', but will Trennerson recognize Snape', which he did. And he's plenty worried about it. The point was the position it put Trennerson (that certain someone) in and all the worries he has about it.

Man! You and purple water sure keep old P.A.R. on her toes, I'll tell you that!

O.K., let me see now. Snape is checking Sirius' blood for traces of the Fake Veritaserum? He's actually checking it for a lot of things. But the main thing is a trace of Veritaserum. That's very important to the story and you find out why next chapter.

Mr. Green was a redundant character, Dear. His absence was only explained as far as it has been in the story. I didn't feel the need to go into any further detail, though some readers may not agree. But it was sort of a time issue.

Peter is not going to show up in this story. Trennerson likely does have some idea of his role in things, since he knows Sirius is, in fact, innocent.

Mr. Crouch in not involved in this because Sirius is not in the hands of the Minister of Magic. In this story, Sirius actually did go to trail, so he is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. As you recall, in the original books, Sirius was never given a trail. Therefore, since Sirius did, in fact, have a trail in this story, the outcome will be decided by the Ministry Justices, not the Minister of Magic.

There are never enough hits. True. But 13,000+ is a pretty good start. And I haven't even been at this a year yet.

Blizzard: Always happy to hear from a new reviewer!

So glad you like the story.

What's a girl to do when she's addicted? That's easy. You either write or read.

Naw, underneath it all, Snape has a soft side. And I always felt that if anyone could draw it out, it was Remus. I mean, being mean to him is like kicking a puppy.

Sorry. Due to my schedule I'm restricted to only posting on Sundays and Wednesdays.

purple water: O.K., the first reason that won't work is exactly what you said. It's the most obvious thing.

As for accepting new evidence, well, that sort of depends on how you present it, doesn't it? But that comes up later, so I'll stop there.

*P.A.R. sits staring at computer screen in stunned silence.* Honestly! How do you come up with this stuff. *Hugs the computer screen.*

You are SO close with your reasoning about what Snape is up to. But your train pulled out of the station just a little too soon and all the passengers didn't quite make it on board, Dear. You'll see what I mean Sunday.

The fact that Snape isn't Voldemort's Potion's Master was addressed in this chapter in a underhanded sort of way. Suffice to say he isn't Voldemort's Potions Master yet. Which is sort of why Trennerson is so afraid of him. I mean, lets face it. You don't exactly get fired from your position in Voldemort's fanclub, do you?

Actually, though it doesn't come up in this story, but oddly enough does come up in an unrelated story (Family Relations), Snape's position in the Deatheaters is (was) to find ways to alter potions to make them either more effective or deadlier.

I have never understood why Snape wants the DADA job so badly when he is so good at Potions.

Don't throw the computer across the room. It's only momentary satisfaction and a long time recouping the lose.

As to the 'old' theory, I believe what you described was what Katlin was doing. Except Sirius wasn't in a dark room (he was in the front seat of a car, heading for the backseat if things got any further), and Katlin wasn't exactly trying to entice him by having him stare down the business end of her wand. The woman plays to her strengths. Fortunately, Sirius valued something else above a good time. The one thing that was straight up about that whole scene was what Katlin told Sirius about Harry. The only place where your theory of how things would have gone in your version went slightly askew was in the fact that you talked like Voldemort wasn't in power at the time. Voldemort was very much in power..., through Katlin. She was his right hand. And in order to get to Voldemort, whatever his condition at the time, you had to go through Katlin. Trust me, few Deatheaters would have ever been so stupid as to try that route. The woman has a very simple solution to problems. (And if you don't know what that is, people, you haven't been paying attention at all.).

I always wondered about Deatheaters. And I figured that aside from the Malfoy's and a few others, regular people, like Snape (when he was a Deatheater), must have had to have regular day jobs to earn money. Voldemort simply could not have been supporting the whole lot of them.

Thanks for the review and oh, heavens, please keep those theories coming. As I told Karla, you two really keep me on my toes.

Reviews are as of 08272002.

(Sign in a pub.) Anyone here drink beer and speak English?


	7. CHAPTER SEVEN: Answers

A/N: Well, since my life is currently very boring (Thank you, God!), and I have nothing to say, I'll make a recommendation instead. People, go dedicate fifteen minutes of your life to read Teacher's Pet by Didoikali. And not the Fanfiction.net version. Go read the one listed in FictionAlley with pictures. It is truly a wonderful story and very well worth your time. This is the work of a very talented author as well as artist.

Also, I would like to hand a great big 'Decency Award' to the fine folks managing the website HarryPotter.com. I had a friend today tell me she and her son went on the website, and in registering onto the website, she told me they put up a message that stated that all the information that your child gives to them when they register on this site is kept private and is not shared with any advertisers. That it is used solely for that website and nothing else. So, HarryPotter.Com, congratulations for not selling out to advertisers and marketers who would likely love to get their hands on that information and for respecting the privacy of your website users. 

Other than that, enjoy.

****

Tried And Convicted 

CHAPTER SEVEN: ANSWERS

Remus sat in the same seat he had been in before in the courtroom. But this time he didn't have Harry with him. He had left the child again with the kindly witch next door, feeling it was better not to bring Harry to the verdict hearing.

Snape had also elected not to attend. He had parted ways with Remus as soon as they left the jail, stating he wanted to get back to Hogwarts as quickly as he could to begin work. 

And so Remus sat by himself in the crowded courtroom. The room was again packed to overflowing with reporters and curious onlookers. Remus had arrived a half hour before the reading and already the room had been filled.

Right on schedule, the judges appeared and took their seats, followed shortly afterwards by Sirius being led into the courtroom.

Remus had never seen his long time friend look so lost. Sirius never even looked up as they led him in to see the faces of those who had come to watch. Not even to look for the one familiar, friendly face there. Instead he kept his attention focused solely on the ground before him, never once shifting his gaze in even the least bit.

The guards directed Sirius to the same chair he had been seated in before, each taking a position on either side of him.

The judges waited for the crowd to settle down as curious bystanders stood up to get a better look at the accused murderer. Sirius had been offered up in the papers as a high ranking Deatheater who had been captured by the ministry for the murder of James and Lily Potter. That he had then taken their young son into hiding, presumably to turn the infant over to the dark lord. But that he had been captured by the ministry before he had the chance to do so. Remus had scoffed at the story. Anyone with any sense would question it, he had told Dumbledore when it had first appeared in the news. Why had Sirius kidnapped the child instead of killing him? And why had he gone into hiding? Why not just take the child to Voldemort? And Sirius' capture had been weeks ago. Why was he just now coming to trial? And if the ministry had so much 'evidence' against him, why the use of Veritaserum? That was usually only used when there was clearly reasonable doubt as to the accused guilt.

No. Snape had been right. This was all to well arranged.

Remus sat watching Sirius as the judges finally called for quiet to settle the last few whispering voices in the courtroom. Finally the judge in the center of the other two turned to Sirius.

"The accused will stand to hear the verdict." He announced.

Sirius paused for a moment, then slowly rose to his feet and, at the prodding of the two guards, turned to face the judges.

"Sirius Orion Black, you have been brought before this court today for the reading of the verdict of your trial. Before the verdict is read, do you have anything to say?"

Sirius stood for a moment. The court fell absolutely silent to hear what the accused murderer had to say. Deatheaters almost always either plead their innocence or denounced the court, stating that Voldemort would free them and they would come back to wreak vengeance on all present.

But Sirius only stood for a few moments, then, still facing the floor, silently shook his head.

Remus could have screamed out at him to say something. Take those few precious seconds to profess his innocence once more to these idiots. Tell them what really happened. How he had protected Harry. Taken care of him. Everything he had been through and suffered, just to make sure his godson was cared for. How could anyone, hearing that, believe that he meant Harry any harm?

But Sirius had only shook his head, and remained silent.

"Very well." The judge continued stoically. "Sirius Orion Black, you stand accused of complicity in the murders of James and Lily Potter, of the kidnapping of the child, Harry James Potter, of association with and serving the dark lord, and endangering a minor child. You admitted to these acts in this courtroom under Veritaserum in the presence of our persons and thereby have convicted yourself by your own words. It is therefore the decision of this court that you be sentenced to Azkaban, there to be handed over to the Dementors to be administered The Kiss. The remainder of your life will be spent within the confines of the prison as a ward of that establishment."

Remus felt each word like a physical blow. No matter how he had prepared himself for this, he still couldn't stop the feeling of dread that welled up inside of him as he watched the two guards leading his friend off to a side door.

Remus didn't remember getting to his feet, or pushing through the crowd as he left the courtroom. The only thought on his mind was that he had to get to Sirius. He had to see him before they took him to Azkaban. Tell him that he was going to see Dumbledore. That they would find a way to appeal his case and stop the sentence from being carried out.

Anything to give his friend hope. 

Deep in mazes of hallways and corridors that made up the dungeons of Hogwarts castle, Snape stood before a table set with vials of various sizes, shapes, and colors. It was here, in his element, that he was most comfortable. Most at peace. Even now, working to try and save the life of a man he detested in a manner few people could ever understand, he found peace working in his private chambers. 

Snape looked over the wide array of potions. Some were bubbling over small flames. Pale green potions that warned people away as they emitted horrible odors. Still others sat deceptively innocent, enticing the unwary with their bright colors and pleasant smells. 

But the one that held his interest presently was the one in his hand, which he had held up as he passed the lit tip of his wand behind it several times.

A frown etched itself in his face. One that grew deeper every time the wand passed behind the glass vial. But finally Snape returned the vial to its stand, a look of utter astonishment on his face.

He had to get to Dumbledore and tell the Headmaster what he had found.

"Allergic?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape was sitting in Dumbledore's office, having gone by fire. He had just poured out his results to the Headmaster.

"To one of the main ingredients of Veritaserum." Snape confirmed. "There is no way that they could have given it to Black within five days of his trial that he could have testified from anything but a hospital bed. The reaction would have been quite severe indeed."

Dumbledore was already headed for the door of his office.

"We have to get to the ministry. We have no idea how soon they'll take Sirius to Azkaban and turn him over to the Dementors."

But just as the Headmaster reached for the door , Remus came flying into the room, nearly knocking Dumbledore over in his haste.

"Sirius!" Remus gasp for breath. "He's gone, Albus."

Dumbledore helped Remus steady himself. He was so out of breath he could hardly stand. Snape had already grabbed a chair and was shoving it under the man as he collapsed into it.

"Gone?" Dumbledore asked quickly. "What do you mean 'gone'?"

Remus gasp in one long breath. "They've taken him, Albus. Right from the courtroom."

"Who?"

"The ministry." Remus paused and took another deep breath. "Albus, they've taken him straight to Azkaban."

Snape jumped into the harried conversation suddenly. "What!? That's unheard of!" He protested. "Prisoners are given at least one full day before they're taken to Azkaban. To settle their affairs if nothing else. Who........" But Snape stopped suddenly as a sneer crawled across his face. "Trennerson."

Remus looked up at the sound of the name. "Trennerson? What has he to do with this part of it?"

"Likely, everything, would be my guess." Snape answered. "He's probably the one who arranged for the immediate transfer for Black. If nothing else good can be seen in this, it shows how worried he is. He likely saw us when we went to see Black, and recognized me. Now he's just running scared. He probably suspects we're putting things together. If Trennerson didn't do whatever it took to hurry things up and get rid of Black as soon as possible, and heaven forbid Black ever pulled himself together enough to start talking, repeating for people the things we told him, everything would come back to Trennerson." Snape looked up at Dumbledore. "He's trying to destroy the only piece of evidence that could put him in Azkaban in Black's place. Black himself. Once Black is nothing more than a babbling idiot, Trennerson is in the clear. Black is the only one who can convict him."

"Unless they shove a vial of Veritaserum down Trennerson's own throat." Remus growled in a low voice.

"That will never happen." Snape replied.

"Why not?"

"Because Trennerson knows too much to be left a walking liability if Black isn't disposed of. He's currently a danger to everyone. For the Deatheaters and Voldemort, he knows Black is innocent of the crimes he is now convicted of and who is truly responsible. For the ministry, if they had even the vaguest knowledge of what was going on during Black's trial, Trennerson could be a horrible embarrassment is he ever started talking under Veritaserum. No, Trennerson would never survive to a trail, I'm pleased to say."

Dumbledore quickly headed for the door. "Regardless of Mr. Trennerson's part in all this," he stated, "one thing remains. We need to get to Azkaban as quickly as possible."

Q&A

Lotesse: *Puts head on desk and cries.* Ohhhhh, the unfairness of it all! No snogging pictures! THAT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!!!!!!!

O.K.. Not much better, but at least I got that off my chest. Yes, I have found several lovely sites for pictures. ArtisticAlley. org and Sugarquill among them. And actually, I think I do know the URL your talking about. I believe I've been to that one under mydirtymind.com.

Three weeks on a sailboat is a good thing? P.A.R. does not agree with this. Three weeks in a mountain cabin by a stream. THIS is a good thing.

I'm glad I made your homecoming a happy one, Lotesse.

The day that boy hugs anybody, you can just color me impressed. (The Mrs. Wesley thing don't count. She started it.)

I thought I was being quite subtle with Trennerson. But as that everyone jumped right on him, apparently not.

Actually, P.A.R. is doing a MWPP story called Reputation. And Proper Friends I suppose also fits in there, although it centers more on the Snape-Remus friendship. (Better? See. No slashy stories. Yet.)

Severus' position is a bit.....tenuous. Voldemort, by the way, is not 'gone'. That part of the story is canon. Voldemort is weak, but still very much alive. Severus, also canon, left the Deatheaters before Voldemort's fall. He is indeed, acting currently as a spy. Why does he seem so put out? Well, that's just Severus. It's hard, after all, to put your life back together right after having most of your ideals come crashing down around you.

As stated in this chapter (and I believe was in an earlier one as well), Harry is left with the witch living next door to Remus, who is the same one he was left with in The Bonds That Tie.

And right on to try and clear up that nasty confusion. Tried And Convicted is the sequel to The Bonds That Tie (by reader request) and takes place about a month later.

I've lost it many time, Dear. I keep finding it again, only to lose it once more. Don't let it bother you.

What? Poor Remus started to sound like me? Oh, dear. I've never been accused of 'voicing-over' one of my characters before.

Chapter four, ahoy? Dear, you were on that sailboat a littttttle too long.

I have no idea about the 'Da' sequence. It didn't ring any bells with me, and I've read all of Whisp's stuff. For me, it was a carry over from The Bonds That Tie scene near the end.

Remus has a nice soapbox, doesn't he? Nicely painted. Strong and sturdy. He could get up on that thing and probably badger a nun.

Sorry, I was aware of the 'Vile' error and thought I had corrected it in all the chapters. Apparently not. For the rest of it, I redirect you to my biography page as my only defense.

The reason Voldemort is doing all this is something not too terribly far off from Trennerson's reasoning in Chapter Six. The short version? He thinks it's amusing.

Oh, yes, Dear. P.A.R. has been to more conventions than she can remember. I've been doing this stuff since....well, a lonnnnnng time ago. Dragoncon is, without a doubt, a lost weekend in the making. Now, mind you, I haven't been to Dragoncon in a few years due to a lot of politics behind the scenes I'm privy too. And it was one of my favorites because I have a lot of friends up that way. And the parties are usually pretty good, if you go to the right ones. I could take you to parties that ain't on the party board. But to really have fun, you have to go room-party hopping on Saturday night. Capped off with a good old fashion all night live role playing game. Ahhhhhh, those were the days! (Currently P.A.R. is paying off a Student Loan and can not afford to have fun yet.) However, I'll give this one to your parents. DO NOT go to DragonCon alone! Go with a group. This thing is huge and sadly, yes, can be very dangerous in some regards. You're best bet? Go with someone who's gone before. That's how you'll have the best time. (And stay away from the alcohol and any open container. You have no idea what's really in that stuff. And I've SEEN what they put in that stuff. Nasty! Usually, to be safe, I followed one general rule. Only eat or drink what you brought, bought, or was in the Consuite.)

By the way, my last paid admission was 135.00. Have you heard what it is up to now for a full admission? Just curious.

Whisp! Awwwww. *Hugs Whisp.* I'm sorry, Whisp. But, Dear, that's what 'Author Alert' is for.

Ummmmmm, sorry again, but yeah, Harry is jus there to look cute for now. HE has a part to play in all this. But whether what he does is 'saving' Sirius is open to interpretation.

Awwwww, that last part was the nicest thing anyone's said to me in.....well, days! Thank you! (Seriously.)

Fire Spirit: I think it would particularly suck for Sirius.

Sailor Sol: I would love to tell you the name of the book, Dear. The problem is what I am doing here on Fanfiction.net is against my contract with my publisher. So I have to stay anonymous for now.

A senior in high school, huh? Some advice, Dear. Don't waste it looking forward to college too much. When you get to be my age, and you've lived life a little, you'll look back on this year with a great deal of longing. Believe me.

Dark Whispers: Oh, dear. Poor Trennerson. The man is in trouble then, isn't he?

Nagini: I am SOOOOOOO disappointed, Nagini! Bad snake! No rats!

Hated algebra. P.A.R. is no good at math. Never took Latin. But I'm Catholic! Does that count?

Hey, by the way, Nagini.........This is the song that never endssssssss, yes, it goes on and on my friend.............!

Storyspindler: Indeed, if Sirius had a nice quiet life he wouldn't be very interesting to write about.

It's all right if you miss a few, Dear. At least you review. I got about a thousand people out there who don't, so who am I to say anything to the people that do? And by Heavens, I even love the people who don't! At least someone is reading this stuff!

sweets: WHY do you want to move to Florida, Dear? It's hot, it's full of mosquitoes, and we have enough darn peopl........oh, never mind. Who am I to try and convince someone else not to come here. I've been here for.....a very long time, and I would never live anywhere else. Mosquitoes and all.

Trennerson is indeed not a 'good guy'.

And where as I'm all for Rowling coming up with unusual names for her characters, where did you come up with 'Sirius', woman? It makes for some very difficult sentence structuring sometimes.

UnrepentantReader: I don't remember the title being that, but you indeed have the right one. I remember that name, Amberdulen. That was definitely the author. And yes, the reviews were almost as funny as the 'story'.

Yup, 'so far' Sirius has ended all of my stories alive.

Oh, heavens! Now THAT'S a question! Would Remus contact Sirius's family? I'll answer that one two ways. First of all, I'll go with what you said. The relationships are....complicated. Second, Sirius' family never really enters into this story because they were, at the time, redundant to the plot and I only have so much time. In my defense, *Holds up PoA and GoF.* the man's been out for two years, Rowling's! Where's his family? Does he have one? Do they care? A little background, please.

Mayleesa: What!? Snape? When did I point the finger at Severus?

How do I do it? I'm not sure. I sit in front of my computer, staring at the screen until I get bored with that, then I put something on it so I have something else to look at. Get bored with that, put something else on.......and so it goes. Eventually, I have a story.

Zimmy Russell: Yeah. Voldemort really kills them at parties. (All the puns are intended.)

Why is Snape in trouble? Trennerson, maybe. And I'll give you the Sirius thing.

The traffic in Orlando is indeed bad. And there is a lot of it. Probably one of the major reasons I do not feel compelled to add to it.

As far as 'need to know', I do try to put most of my cards on the table by the end of the story.

Proper Friends, unfortunately, is not due out until next year. But you'll be working your way through Family Relations until then.

I try to read books, Dear. But I have exactly two choices here. Read 'em or write 'em.

Doom Song: Sorry, no Peter. *Peter Haters all applaud and nod approvingly.* I really can't comment much on the rest of what you ask because a lot of it was answered with this chapter. Of course, I don't know that Sirius being allergic to Veritaserum will get the ministry 'off' of him, so to speak. I mean, they still don't have any 'other' suspect in James and Lily's murder, plus, they have one they do like. So, it remains to be seen if the ministry is ever going to leave poor Sirius alone.

purple water: In regards to what Voldemort is getting out of this besides just amusing himself. You have to look at the larger picture here. It's a rather sinister thing when you think about it. You have a group of ministry people, supposedly working for the light side, and who are figures in authority over, say, a bunch of underlings, also working for the light side, who supposedly look up to these leaders. Now, these leaders first, take one of their own (Sirius, remember, was an Auror. And a very high placed one at that. He was respect, well-liked, and good at his job.), accuse him of a horrible crime, convict him, and then (possibly) execute him. Then say, a week later, Voldemort stands up on his soap box one day and announces (or lets it be known some way) that he, in fact, was the one responsible for the murders and not Sirius. First of all, the underlings are already upset that one of their own was a) accused as a suspect, and then b) executed for the crime. Now they find out that their so called leaders, oops!, made a mistake, and executed the wrong person. One of their own, no less. How do you think that it going to sit in the lower ranks?

So, you were definitely headed down the right track on what Voldemort's purpose in all this was. Basically, dissension in the ranks. A very effective ploy. You can't control or command people who don't respect, like, or have any confidence in you. So, discredit the leaders, and you effectively destroy the army from the inside.

You don't think Katlin is suited for the task of being the next dark lord? Dear, why ever not? She's deceptive, intelligent, cunning, ruthless, and you couldn't have stuffed her conscience in the navel of a Barbie doll. Dear! She's perfect! It is, though, not her purpose in life to become the next dark lord, not matter how good she would be at it. She's sort of just 'daddy's little girl' and is happy just doing what she's told as long as she can do it how she pleases. Sorry, by the way, if I implied that was what that was all about.

lilahp: Check out UnrepentantReader's review. They have the title and author of that 'story' listed. And it was very funny.

Oh, dear. What can I say? It looks very much like Sirius is headed for 'The Rock'.

Ummmmm, Sirius doesn't know he's innocent. In the last chapter Snape only had a theory, but no proof. And even though they now have proof, Sirius still doesn't know that.

I'll have to look up this group, Dear. Thanks for the information. I do indeed have a suggestion for them in the speaker category. (Yeah, P.A.R. could use a free weekend with accommodations.)

My father is still making very good progress and is doing well. Thank you for asking.

Karla: Goodness! The review was almost as long as the chapter. *Smiles.* P.A.R. likes that!

*Lays head on the desk.* Oh, no!!!!!! Not continuity errors again!

O.K., let me see if I can dig my way out of this. To start, Snape was a Deatheater. Let's get that firmly established. So yes, you were right. Snape was once a Deatheater and a traitor to the light side.

O.K., now, he was a Deatheater before he started teaching at Hogwarts. He came to teach at Hogwarts after he came to Dumbledore and said 'I want out of the Deatheaters'. That's when he turned spy for Dumbledore. So now he's an ex-Deatheater and a traitor to the dark side.

Moving right along, the 'past mistakes' Dumbledore was reminding Snape of was indeed his past as a Deatheater. And Remus did indeed think Dumbledore was referring to the Whomping Willow incident.

Now it gets a little hazy. Let me see if I can help due to things not mentioned in the story and reasons why I should not write these things out of order. Remus and Dumbledore both know Snape was a Deatheater. The only person not in on this at the moment is Sirius, and it's important to the story that he doesn't know, and Harry, who doesn't care at the moment.

Now, Dumbledore and Remus both know that Snape is no longer a Deatheater. How? Well, because Snape told them. When? Well, obviously not at the same time. Remus found out Snape was a Deatheater in Proper Friends, which has not posted yet, but obviously should have. He also knows Snape isn't one any longer, because Snape told him and Remus, for whatever reasons, believed him. In the situation you're referring to, Remus just didn't make the right connection, is all. He just thought Dumbledore was talking about the Whomping Willow incident because it was the first thing to come to mind.

Any better?

Let me see.......Trennerson works for the Deatheaters, is, therefore, a Deatheater, and you're asking is he stupid? Isn't that question a bit redundant, Dear?

Yes, the questioning was meant to go further and Trennerson did mess up. *P.A.R. looks around for that gold star.* O.K., now I can tell you what you're getting this thing for. You were the first one to STATE, in WRITING (others realized this, but didn't put it in until later), that Sirius was fighting the potion in the courtroom. He started out answering the questions without any problem. But then he started to pause, and finally stop altogether. He did this because he was fighting the effects of the potion. And quite successfully, too. So, *Hands over gold star.* go add that one to your collection. Trennerson, by the way, did mess up badly in that he did not prepare for the possibility that Sirius would be able to fight the potion he gave him. Snape also made the vague comment, I believe, that Trennerson wasn't the most competent potion brewer in the world. But then, against our dear Severus, who is? 

No, Voldemort isn't exactly known for his forgiving nature. As I stated before, you don't exactly get 'fired' from your position in his fanclub, do you?

Snape did go to the jail prepared. He presented himself as Sirius' solicitor (lawyer, for all our friends in the States.). Also, Snape doesn't want Trennerson's spot. It's fairly dangerous. He would be much closer to Voldemort and likely watched much more closely as well as have to actually do thing for the dark lord. Currently, he just has to be a good little Deatheater and attend meetings.

Yes, Voldemort is alive and kicking. As powerful as ever? No. This part is fairly canon. Voldemort tried to attack Harry and lost most of his powers. However, he still has faithful (albeit stupid) followers who, while he is recooping, still do whatever he asks of them in the hopes that when he is back to his bad old self, will greatly reward them for staying loyal.

And I know this sounds bad, and I hate putting it like this, but I have no other way to say it, people. So take it with a grain of salt. Yes, I am the author, and I can do what I want. Ohhhhhhhhh, that sounds so........megalomaniactic!

Silverfox: People............people HATE Severus!? How..........., *P.A.R. pauses, thinks, then smiles.* noooooooooo, you must be mistaken.

I'm glad you liked the Snape-Sirius interaction last time out. I do like pairing those two for a little social intercourse. (CONVERSATION! Oh, get your minds out of the gutters, people. I used a hyphen and not a slash mark, like Lotesse suggested.)

Anyway, I have no idea abouthte Author Alert problem, but there does seem to be one based on people telling me they have missed my postings. But honestly, people, I'm much more dependable currently then Author Alert apparently. I post Sundays and Wednesdays, between approximately 6PM and 10PM EST, barring bad things happening, like website crashes and such.

Anyway, reviews are as of 09012002. Say if I missed you. I hope you all enjoy your long weekend.

And can somebody get me this doormat?

We Serve Only The Finest California Wines.

Did You Bring Any? 


	8. Chapter Eight: The Kiss

A/N: Folks, gather 'round. P.A.R. has a confession to make. You see, in the last Q&A, I made a mistake. *People gasp in disbelief. Several faint.* I made the comment to purple water that Katlin would be perfectly suited to become the next dark lord and stated the reasons for this. These were that she is 'deceptive, intelligent, cunning, ruthless, and you couldn't have stuffed her conscience in the navel of a Barbie doll'. That last part should actually have read 'you could stuff her conscience in the navel of a Barbie doll'. A small matter, true. But it does sort of change the meaning.

****

Tried And Convicted 

****

Chapter Eight: THE KISS

Sirius stared blankly ahead of him as the two guards flanking him led the complacent captive down the corridor of Azkaban. 

Sirius had heard about Azkaban. Had helped send a great many Deatheaters here. But in his wildest and worst nightmares, he had never envisioned himself in this black pit. A coldness had gripped him as soon as he stepped within the prison walls. It settled into the material of his robes and insidiously worked its way through to his body, where it hung on his skin like a lead weight. It was as though already he could feel every good, pleasant, happy emotion being sucked out of his very soul.

He had heard the screams as soon as he entered the first corridor. A loud, horrified shriek had frozen him in his tracks. The guard to his left grabbed his arm and dragged him forward to get him moving again. But Sirius didn't remember anything of those next few minutes. He was frozen in the sound of that scream. He had never heard anything like it in his life. It was soul-less. A pitiful, wailing cry that tore through the air, carrying with it all the hopelessness, desperation, and despondency of the person it belonged to.

Sirius didn't break out of his trancelike state until he was taken past the first of a row of cells. He chanced a glance into the cell. A bleak, dirty, thin animal sat near the bars. It took Sirius a moment to realize, as the guards moved him on past the cell, that the creature he had seen was human. A fact only brought to light in the last seconds when the poor being had lifted it's head slightly and caught his stare.

Sirius had never seen eyes so dark. So utterly devoid of....anything. They were nothing more than two hollow pits staring out at him from a skeletal face.

As they past the cell, Sirius caught a whiff of something that nearly gagged him. As long as the creature had been in its cell, Sirius doubted one drop of water had touched it's body.

But as he tried to clear the smell from his senses, a sudden chill past through his body as a thought came to light for him.

That creature. That would be him in a few weeks. 

Or something even worse. 

Or better, depending on how you looked at it. He would be the same filthy, starved, stench-ridden creature huddled in a cell. But he would have no knowledge of it. It would just be his body sitting there. His soul and mind long departed.

Somehow the thought terrified him. His body sitting in a cell. Alone, filthy, and neglected. How often would someone come and check on him? Or try to feed him? Or clean him? Or see to any of his body's basic needs? Or would he be abandoned and left to suffer until someone remembered him and threw a piece of bread in his cell or dumped a bucket of water over him?

Sirius wondered if he could plead his case to the guards escorting him. Bargain something with them so that they would just put his body in a cell and let it peacefully starve to death. That way, he would know his body would only last in this cold pit for a few weeks at best. No more than a month more than likely before it finally died of its own accord. And there wouldn't be much pain for it. At least not endless days of it.

'How long am I to stay here?' Sirius wondered as they past another dark cell with another pitiful creature huddled about itself for some hope of warmth. 'How long before they send for the Dementors?'

The judges sentence had been that he was to be taken to Azkaban and turned over to the Dementors to administer the Kiss. But they hadn't said how long that wait would be.

Sirius was snapped out of his thoughts as they approached another cell. A sudden coldness seemed to permeate the very air around him suddenly. As though he had just been taken through a jet of freezing air that blew over his body from some unknown source.

But it didn't take Sirius long to identify the source.

The door to the cell they approached was open. Inside one of the poor, hopeless inhabitants of the prison was curled up in the back corner of his cell. Before him stood a tall, thin creature clothed in a black robe. But what struck Sirius the most was that the cell's inhabitant wasn't screaming. Instead he sat pressed as close as he could conform his body to that back wall of the cell, his body curled into a ball as he whimpered softly. His whole body shook violently and the grip his hands had on his arms was so tight that each nail was drawing blood.

Sirius staggered in his pace as he stared in mute horror at the scene. A part of him wanted to get as far from the Dementor as he could. But another part of him couldn't resist the need to see what awaited him in his own future.

"Move along!" One of the guards stated with a firm shove. "Your time will come soon enough."

Sirius turned to the guard. "When?" He asked quietly, trying not to sound to interested. "I mean, no one said how long it would be exactly."

The guard led him around the last corner of the corridor. Sirius stopped dead in his tracks. Before him was a small cell similar to the ones they had passed in the corridor. Standing within the stone cell was a Dementor.

"How is now?"

Sirius involuntarily took a step backwards. But a firm hand in the middle of his back shoved him forwards three steps.

"It wasn't really a question, Black." The guard informed him. "Orders were you were to be given to the Dementors as soon as you arrived at the prison."

Sirius stood stone still in the corridor before the door to the cell, staring at the creature inside. If there was a good side to it, Sirius told himself, at least he didn't have to spend a lot of time alone in a cell thinking about what was to come. 

It was, after all, his punishment. He had caused the deaths of two of his friends. And nearly that of his godson. Circumstances no longer mattered to him really. For no matter how unintentional, or how innocent they had seemed at the time, it was his acts that had ultimately brought about James and Lily's deaths. And his punishment was only right. And he wasn't going to fight it. The sooner he was gone, the better for everyone. He had turned Harry's guardianship over to Dumbledore. At least with that one act, he had secured Harry away from Lily's relatives. His godson could have something of a normal life. Safe and protected just as Sirius himself would have done for him to the best of his ability. But Harry didn't belong with him. Not with the man who had caused his parents deaths. That would be a travesty. 

No, Harry was better off with Dumbledore. And Remus would be there to, to help look out after the boy. To teach him how to be a wizard, and tell him stories about his parents so that he would remember them. And over time his image would fade from the child's memory. Soon Harry would be calling out for 'Moony' as easily as he called for 'Padfoot' now. After all, the kid already said Remus' nickname better than his. Yes, this was for the best. For everyone. For Harry.

And he was actually grateful in a way. At least it was quick and relatively painless. That was certainly more than he deserved. In five minutes or less, it would all be over. Sirius thought of the poor creature in the first cell. How long had he been here? Condemned to relive the worst moments in his memory for the rest of his life.

But for him, he wouldn't even spend a day in the Dementors company that he would be aware of it. Why, this hardly seemed like punishment at all. A quick, painless, easy death. That was certainly more than he deserved.

The least he could do was face it without causing anymore trouble. Just step into the cell, he told himself sternly, and it'll all be over in a few moments. Then peaceful oblivion. 

Yes, it was best to face it nobly. For Harry. The one decent thing he could do in his godson's parents memory was face his punishment and accept it.

Sirius pulled himself up as best he could and took a step forward. There, that wasn't so hard to do. Eleven....twelve more.

Sirius was never more conscious of walking in his life. He fervently felt every stone under his feet as he walked. Pausing just slightly with each step as he committed it to memory. What it felt like. Where it took him. What he was thinking about at that moment.

From somewhere in the darkness that seemed to already be closing in around him, Sirius thought he heard Harry's all too familiar cry. He took it as a good sign. He was doing the right thing. And so he was being rewarded in an odd sort of way that the last thing he would remember hearing was his godson's cry. 

Distracted by the cry as he continued to walk, Sirius suddenly found himself standing right in front of the Dementor. Strange, he thought. People were suppose to be reduced to crying, whimpering masses standing this close to a Dementor. But likely, he reasoned, the Dementors had control over their effect on human's, and could turn the effect off when they choose to. And with the guards having to escort him, it was likely that was what they did.

Sirius looked up into the black hollow of the hood. He had heard what Dementors looked like from other Aurors when he worked for the Department. But he had never seen it for himself. Now he was going to get a good look. First hand.

Sirius drew in a sharp breath a the Dementor lowered it's hood. Again he found himself taking an involuntary step back. And again a hand in the small of his back shoved him back forward. But this time something was waiting as he stumbled forward. Two hands seized hold of him as the Dementor caught him in its cold, icy grip.

A twisted mass of flesh faced him. No true form gave any indication where a nose or a mouth might be. But Sirius was sure he saw two small red shining eyes glaring back at him from within the cavernous folds of skin that made up that nightmare of a face. It was all he could do to keep himself from screaming in horror at the sight before him. But the sound froze in his throat as he felt the effect of the Dementor wash over him. 

Slowly, Sirius felt the two cold hands slowly release their grip from his arms. He concentrated on every movement as he registered them move up his arms and slide up to cup his face on either side. He found it strange, how the act seemed almost kind. Almost loving. 

He heard the rattle of breath, and smelled it as the creature exhaled; like something that had been dead for a very long time and had been left to the elements. He felt a slight tremble pass through the Dementor's fingers that held his face. Felt the cold breath caress his skin. Felt the first sting of the icy flesh as it barely brushed his lips. 

And then he felt nothing at all.

Q&A

UnrepentantReader: Wow! Number one this time! Congratulations!

By the way, Dear, have you ever thought of repenting?

Well, you'll have to forgive me if I don't hold out too much sympathy to Trennerson. He sort of got himself into his present situation. He's currently very dangerous to a lot of people. A lot of the 'wrong' people.

Actually, there's a small joke behind Sirius' middle name, but it's written into Family Relations, so I won't explain it here.

And 'no', it is not the reason Sirius and his brother do not get along.

Mayleesa: I wouldn't worry too much about Snape being hurt by Trennerson. Now Trennerson being hurt by Snape? That could hold some promise.

Ohhhhhh! I'm someone's hero. Thank you, Dear. *Hugs back.*

Dark Whispers: Trust me, Dear. Enjoy school while it lasts. Because the real world is a lot harder.

Nicky: Chances are Trennerson was so eager to get Sirius to start answering questions, he skipped a lot of steps along the way. And obviously thinking whether or not Sirius might be allergic to Veritaserum was one of them.

I would think, like muggle medicine, that witches and wizards have to be aware of what they might be allergic to when taking potions.

Nagini: Yeah, yeah. Everybody's got an excuse.

Yes, Dear. The important part (as far as I'm concerned) is that you are reviewing.

Ummmmm, am I missing something here? Are they now using 'muffins' to denote something else? Or are you honestly just really fond of muffins? Kind of a strange obsession.

Silverfox: The problem is, you see, they just haven't seen Alan Rickman portraying him yet!

Indeed, with Fudge in charge, just flip a coin to see what happens. Anything is possible. But I don't think even Fudge would want to risk making Dumbledore mad.

purple water: Actually, I would love to comment on the 'can't prove what he was taking' part. But the story's not over, so I can't.

So easily? He spent a good part of the morning running tests. I wouldn't say it was easy.

I looked into The Things That Weren't. It looks very good and I am eager to give it a serious read perhaps over the weekend or so. I am really tickled silly that you took my advice and incorporated your ideas into a story of your own. They were truly excellent ideas. Your writing style looks very good as well, and I look forward to critiquing your story.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! Goody! Someone's opinion on Katlin! I look forward to that. 

Katlin is rapidly emerging as one of my favorite OC's. She's a tremendous amount of fun to write. She's currently holding her ground in three separate stories; Enemies, Runaway, and Family Relations. I do hope she is well received, as that she will likely be a returning character.

Sailor Sol: I wish I could 'recommend' a book. Wouldn't hurt sales any. Oh, well.

Well, good for you, Dear! You can always take classes in college, but friends you never know how long you'll have near you.

Ohhhh. Nuts! You were looking for something to cheer you up? Oh, dear. P.A.R. is very sorry about this chapter, Sailor Sol. Maybe you could go find a nice humorous story and read that.

Storyspindler: Oh, dear. What can I say?

weirdo: Ohhhhhh! Thank you. Such nice praise. And a new reviewer to boot!

RavenLady: I hope you liked this one.

Me: Me? Did I miss you somewhere? P.A.R. is very sorry! I try not to miss people.

But that is very kind of you to review anyway. Thank you.

I went through Veracity a few times at least. Audiaa2's stories do tend to be a little complicated. But she has a good writing style and I enjoy her. I recommend her for a good read.

I don't think they made the exception because he was THE Harry Potter. I think it was more because he was THE defendant's godson.

No! No! No! Don't keep theories to yourself! P.A.R. LOVES theories! They're FUN!

Everyone jumped on Trennerson, by the way. I thought I was being subtle with him. Apparently not.

sweets: Yes, but your mosquitoes all come to Florida for the winter, you see.

Yes, Tried And Convicted is an AU story. And it is not related to Family Life or any of my other stories in anyway, EXCEPT The Bonds That Tie, which it is the sequel to.

I didn't think making him allergic had been done yet. And I do strive to be original whenever possible. But you gotta know with so many stories up and more coming every day, it gets harder and harder to find that one original plot.

Karla: O.K.. Yes, Severus found out Sirius is allergic to Veritaserum, and by that they might be able to save his life. Right.

You do not apparate into Azkaban. Right.

The rest of what you brought up is covered more or less in the following chapters.

Is Severus going to check for what Sirius was really given? That's covered in up-coming chapters. As for his motivation, Severus isn't really concerned about Trennerson right now for the reasons stated in the last chapter. Sort of a 'problem taking care of itself' thing going on there.

You gotta admit though, it's kind of fun to try and write when you're really, really, reallllly tired, then read it the next day.

How dare I threaten Sirius with The Kiss? I refer you back to the sentence you wrote three sentences before that one.

Oh, dear. You're not a very happy little reader right now, are you? P.A.R. is sorry.

Reviews are as of 09042002, unless you came in late.

And remember,

don't judge a book by it's movie.

I think we can all relate to this one.


	9. Chapter Nine: You Couldn't Have Just Ad...

A/N: You can all thank Karla, to whom I am giving full credit, that this chapter is a little longer today than it was originally. Why? Go read her answer in Q&A. Who says I don't listen to my readers? I really do, guys.

The title of this chapter was suggested by a friend who, upon reading the last chapter and then reading the first few paragraphs of this one, named the chapter.

****

Chapter Nine: You Couldn't Have Just Added This To The End Of That Last Chapter?

A sudden jarring brought Sirius back to himself. It was as though his body was being yanked forward, and then back. It took him several seconds to realize that that was, in fact, what had happened. Someone had tried to pull the Dementor back, and seconds later, tried to pull him free of its grip.

"Sirius!?" A frantic voice called his name. "Sirius? Are you all right? Can you hear me?"

The next sound was what brought Sirius fully back to himself faster than anything else could have. Harry's cry.

He opened his eyes to find himself sitting on the ground in the doorway of the cell, the anxious face of Remus in front of him. Just off to the side Sirius could see Snape standing in the corner with his wand out, trained threateningly on the Dementor, who was sitting in the corner as though he had been thrown there. The creature looked as surprised as Sirius imagined it was possible for it to. At the door to the cell, Dumbledore was talking in his usual mild voice to the two guards that had escorted Sirius there.

Again the wail rented through the air.

"Harry?" Sirius managed to get out. His throat felt like he hadn't had a drink of water in weeks. The voice coming out of it sounded frighteningly unlike his own. It was scratched and hoarse and could barely make any sound at all.

Sirius felt himself collapse forward into Remus' arms as he grabbed him in a tight embrace. He didn't think he'd ever felt as tired or frightened as he did right then.

"It's all right, Sirius." Remus whispered to him in a reassuring tone. "You're all right. We stopped it in time."

Sirius looked up as a whimpering cry called for his attention.

"Harry?"

"Harry's fine." Remus assured him. "He just frightened. You know what he's like, Sirius."

Sirius quickly pulled himself together as he looked around to finally see his godson held in Dumbledore's arms, fighting for all he was worth to get free of the old wizard as he reached for his godfather. Sirius quickly reached up for him. Dumbledore let the child slip into the safety of Sirius' embrace. Harry cooed his delight as he squirmed his way into Sirius' robes, burying himself as deeply in them as he could, pulling the loose material about him for comfort. Sirius smiled down at the child, giving him a reassuring hug that did as much for him as it likely did for Harry. But just the same, Harry happily cooed up at his godfather again and pulled the robe tighter about him.

Finally convinced Harry was all right, Sirius turned a confused stare to the two men before him. 

"Remus?" He asked, a mild panic coming back to his voice. "What are you even doing here?"

Sirius found himself suddenly grabbed in a tight embrace about his neck.

"Saving your life, you stupid dog!" Remus cried happily. "Talk about 'the nick of time'."

Sirius quickly pushed him back. "Remus! You interfered in a court ordered action! All you've done is guaranteed yourself the next place in line!"

"I'm afraid your 'court action' has been delayed, Mr. Black." Dumbledore spoke up with a small smile.

"Delayed?"

"I arranged already to have the proper paper work done to issue an immediate stay of any action against you based on some rather compelling new evidence that Severus came across. My guess would be that the orders are already in the hands of the head of the prison." The Headmaster turned to the two guards at the door. "If one of you , please," he added mildly, "check to see if the orders have arrived yet concerning Mr. Black."

One of the guards quickly departed. 

Sirius turned his attention to Snape, who, while still holding his wand trained on the Dementor, met Sirius' questioning stare.

"I ran a test on the blood sample I took from you, Black." Snape answered in a voice that seemed to indicate he wasn't pleased himself with the results. "It would seem that you are allergic to one of the main ingredients of Veritaserum."

Sirius stared up at the potions master with a somewhat blank expression. "Allergic?" He asked in a slow, quiet voice as his brain worked over the new information and applied it to all that had happened in the past few days. "But if that's true, then...then they never gave me Veritaserum at the trial."

"That is correct." Snape replied.

"Then what did they give me?"

"A very rare, very hard to detect potion called Cortulous. It is similar to Veritaserum in its effects on the person taking it, with one major difference."

"And that is?"

"It makes you a very convincing liar."

"A what?"

"A liar, Black. That's the reason they never bothered to have you tell a lie to prove you were under the effects of Veritaserum? How do you make a person tell a lie who's already lying?"

Sirius blinked at him. "Sorry?" He asked in a confused voice.

"In court proceedings," Snape explained, "when a person is under Veritaserum, they have a spell placed on them to make them lie, to show the Veritaserum is working. The spell is common knowledge as is it that Veritaserum will counter it. Once the spell is in place, the person is told to state something that is the truth, and he should lie. But under Veritaserum, he wouldn't be able to. But if such a spell were placed on someone under the effects of Cortulous potion, the results are rather....nasty."

"Nasty?"

"The spell is countered by something that is suppose to make the person do what they are already being compelled to do. The effects on the person alone can be very damaging."

While Snape was going through his explanation with Sirius, Harry had managed to calm back down and was now working his way through his godfather's robes until he was peeking out now from them around Sirius' side. The first sight he met had him staring wide-eyed in wonder. Before him, crouched in the corner of the little room, was another man, dressed all in black robes.

Harry smiled at the man. People in black robes were always nice to him. Especially the one he was presently clinging to. His godfather usually wore dark robes. And so did the other man who was so nice to him. 

But the man didn't look very happy. He was crouched in the corner with his black robes pulled about him. Harry took a step out from Sirius' robes, but still holding one corner tightly in his hand. 

Perhaps the man was afraid. Harry understood afraid. When he felt that way, he called for his godfather, who almost always came right away.

Harry stared at the man with a great deal of curiosity. What was he so afraid of? Harry followed the man's stare. 

Right to the tip of the wand. 

A wand which was in the hand of another man. 

One who was dressed in black robes.

Harry frowned. That wasn't right. Why was the man afraid of someone dressed in black robes?

Perhaps he didn't know the man in the black robes wasn't going to hurt him.

Harry knew how to fix that. He simply had to tell the man in the corner. 

Harry let out a small sound. A string of syllables laced so tightly together they didn't come out sounding like much of anything.

But the man in the corner looked up. 

Harry smiled. His whole face reflecting his pleasure at the man's reaction.

The man had heard him! 

Well, that was a start. Harry took another brave step away from his godfather's comforting presence. Well, he wasn't afraid anymore, so that was all right. And no one around him seemed upset, or angry, or afraid......well, except the man in the corner. And the man in the corner seemed greatly interested in what he had to say. Harry watched with a pleased smile as the man slowly raised himself up. No one else in the room seemed to take any notice. Harry looked back at the others. They were still listening to the man holding the wand. 

When Harry turned back to the man in the corner, the man wasn't in the corner anymore. He was crouched low still to the ground, but he had moved now to halfway between the corner he had been in and Harry. And he still seemed greatly interested in Harry.

Harry decided it was time to let his godfather in on things. Mostly because the man was starting to give him a strange, unsettled feeling. He gave Sirius' robe a slight tug as he pointed at the man and sounded off with a string of syllables.

Sirius turned about to see what his godson wanted.

Just in time to see the Dementor launch itself at Harry.

Q&A

*P.A.R. smiles happily.* Ya' wanna know what makes a writer reallllllly happy, folks? To get exactly the reaction out of their readers that they wanted to. And that was exactly what I got with chapter eight. Thank you all most sincerely.

Mayleesa: Oh, dear. That was a somewhat severe reaction!

I hope you're safely back in your body, Dear, and able to review again.

Dark Whisper: Well, since going back to school is hard enough, O.K., I won't kill him.

lilahp: I had issues with the movie. I thought there was way too much whacking going on. Like the pat with Norbert. I liked that sub-plot. It was really cute and added a great deal of suspense to the story. And they nearly left it out entirely.

No. No Time-Turner. It's been done, after all. And as I say so often, if nothing else, I strive to be original. Family Relations is a great example of this for me. Although it's one of the most obvious plot lines in the world to me, I can't believe no one has done it before.

As a writer, I really liked the way chapter eight came off. It was very well written, even for me. If you'll notice one thing about chapter eight, there is almost no dialogue. That is very unusual for me, as that I rely heavily on dialogue to move my stories.

Fanfiction.net has eliminated the type of e-mail I was using, and with it, apparently my account as well as my old e-mails. Something I did not appreciate at all. I am going to try and re-establish it on Monday. Give it another try after that.

Nagini: Nagini, I think that was the longest review I have ever gotten. *Throws out a gold star.* Have a gold star! You deserve it.

Weddings aren't bad. As long as they're not yours. (A little P.A.R. philosophy.).

I hope you're not made at me anymore.

Guenivere Weasley: No, no, no. I am NOT hurting him! I haven't hit him ONCE this entire story!

Yes, Author Alert is a nice thing when it is working I am told.

Storyspindler: If you break your toys you can't play with them anymore. Good point!

Got you hooked, huh? Goody. I need all the reviewer I can get since only about a tenth of you reading this review. I mean, people, I got over a thousand hits on this story, but only a hundred reviews. But don't get me wrong. I appreciate every one of you. Just a little bit more to the ones that review. After all, P.A.R. gives you something to read. Give P.A.R. something to read too.

UnrepentantReader: Still not repenting, huh, Dear? Of course, it begs the question, what does a repenting reader do exactly?

You will let me know if your suspicions were correct or not, won't you? I'm just curious.

I still have a few more surprises. story's not done yet, after all.

Well, thank you as well for the hours of entertainment I get out of reading and answering reviews. It a mutually beneficial relationship.

RavenLady: How could I end a chapter like that? It was easy actually. I just stopped typing. *P.A.R.'s just being a little silly.*

Not capable of this level of anguish? Dear, have you not read The Bonds That Tie? I thought that was as anguishy as I could get!

Nicky: All right. Let's look at the logistics of that. What is the point in freeing a soulless shell?

Now, would I honestly have let them come too late?

Silverfox: Do you honestly think old Fudge even knows what's going on? Especially given how fast everything is happening. There's just not enough time to send out letters to everyone. The only reason Snape and Dumbledore know what's going on is that Remus was in the courtroom and inadvertently tried to see Sirius after the trial.

It's a plot device, Dear! I needed to be able to arrange the scene so that human's could be around the Dementors. I also sort of questioned how there could be human guards at Azkaban (I mean, there must be some, no?), but that they're not effected by the Dementors.

I would think the Dementors would care about the human guards in a off-handed sort of way. I mean, let's face it, there's a tentative relationship if ever there was one. You believe you have control over something that could turn on you at any moment, and that you have basically no control over unless you really know what you're doing. I would not want to be a guard in Azkaban the day the Dementors decide who's really on top of that food chain.

I also thought you would only be able to feel a Dementor when it was 'feeding', or when it didn't have it's effect on human's dampened or 'turned off'. This is why I wrote it that Sirius could feel the Dementor in the cell with the other prisoner, but not the one in the cell with him when he first entered it.

Fire Spirit: No. Not the end of the story. And don't be so sure that Sirius got the Kiss.

Eva Phoenix Potter: Well, apparently I'm not that cruel at all.

purple water: You're a lawyer. I just know you are. Nobody could be this detail oriented and not be a lawyer. And if you aren't one....you should be.

I always attributed the Kiss to being sort of a 'brain dead' sort of thing. There's no real damage done to the body, just the mind, which is utterly destroyed beyond repair. But the body itself, along with the brain's stem, is not physically harmed, so the body continues to live.

Most of the screaming I think is still being done by those the Dementors still have an effect on. Those being given the Kiss only scream once, ya' know?

I'm sorry to negate part of your next supposition, but Snape did identify what Sirius was given. It just wasn't mentioned until this chapter.

All right, I'll give you the time frame thing. Yes. it is seriously off. Snape should have had a few hours there, but due to a revision in the next part of the story, he lost a few hours and ended up with about one....one and a half tops. For him to get to Hogwart's, set up his lab, test Sirius' blood, find the agent he was looking for, identify Sirius' allergy and inform Dumbledore in that time frame is a bit of a stretch. But then, he is Snape.

How long does it take to get to Azkaban? Depends on what you've done. (Sorry, being a little silly.). I would give it, from courtroom to Azkaban, about thirty minutes. But remember, there's parchment work to be done, and that gives me an open playing field.

What? You don't like the Klingons around the hot tub at 4AM chanting rude Klingon bar songs outside your hotel window at the top of their drunken little lungs? Honestly! What sort of conventioneer are you? (If you're anything like P.A.R., you're an old one, who needs her blasted sleep!) In the old days, we'd have just thrown a toaster out the window with a long extension cord. Ahhhhh, the good old days.

All right, defense of character! Katlin didn't let Sirius beat her up. She was taken utterly by surprise.

Seduction? Again, the woman goes with her strength, and what has worked in the past. From my point of view, 'man with crying baby', or 'man with beautiful woman and an evening of great sex'. Not much wondering which way the old ball is going to roll on that one. But then, Katlin was operating on a short budget report and had no real idea of Sirius' level of devotion to his godson.

I'll give you the wand thing. Author over-sight. But then, as that I don't think that there was a mention of Sirius even using his wand, it begs the question if he even had it at the time. But that was never really addressed in the story.

A ten volume set of background story on Katlin? Oh, dear. Try a twenty-one chapter plus story, and a guest starring role in a few others, and three stand alone stories of her own. So she's definitely something of a permanent fixture for now. My job is making readers like her. Not an easy task for a Deatheater character with a past. But then, so far, The Bonds That Tie and Tried And Convicted are AU's and separate from any other story Katlin appears in and therefore, that scene never really took place.

Hard to believe, isn't it? Even for me. But yes, all that really happened in that chapter more or less was he walked down a corridor.

Mr. Happy Java Man: Why is it that every time I see your name I suddenly go into instant Jamaican accent?

Well, what can I say? P.A.R. learned about Cliffhangers. Bad old P.A.R.!

summersun: Bad at reviews!? Dear, no review is bad! At least not as far as I'm concerned. And I thank you for yours.

Hurray for plot twists, huh?

Sorry your computer has not been feeling well. But I'm pleased you were happy to come back to one of my stories.

Whisp! What!? Who!? Me?

You know what's bad? When you're not paying attention, you hit the little 'x' in the corner to close out the screen and it asks if you want to save the changes and you say 'no' without thinking. Man! I need to start doing automatic back-up on this computer.

Anyway, I think Sirius' thoughts are far from happy.

Glad you got those book reports done, Whisp. Man, thirty pages? Must have been a good book.

Your last line. I have a question. What is loff? Is that one of those acronyms P.A.R. is not familiar with? I mean, it took me forever to figure out what WIP meant.

See you Sunday, Whisp.

sweets: Oh, all right. Someone pulled the Dementor off Sirius in time. There. I said it. Happy? Probably even more so that I wrote that into the story, huh?

I don't know about Sirius thinking Remus could take care of Harry. Sirius turned Harry's custody in this story over to Dumbledore. Remus would not have been able to have custody as that werewolves are not allowed to adopt children.

Personally, I'd leave the Citronella at home. I don't think the stuff works too well, and the mosquitoes down here just seem to like it.

Brighid: Since there are more chapters, you know the story didn't end with that scene.

I will certainly try to take a look at your story, Brighid. I already looked it over briefly, and as that it is not too long I will try to fit it in. But I have a very tight schedule that does not allow for a lot of free time for reviewing stories, even though I enjoy doing it a great deal. All I ask of people is to please remember, I do not review nice, I critique honest. In other words, remember, you ask for it.

Me: You didn't like Chapter Two?

Why, Dear, do you hate Snape? He's such a great character. I almost never exclude him from a story. There is so much potential there in character material and background. P.A.R. likes Snape very much.

Wait a minute. If it was James who moved the picture (which it was), why are you doubting his sanity?

Snape has a lot to do with this story.(By the way, you capitalized his name there.).

As for passing out clue's, I was slightly chastised last time round for being too covert with my clues. This time I'm too easy. Still haven't found the happy medium with that one yet apparently. But I'm gearing up for getting hit hard with the wet noodle for Enemies, which I swore would go up against Audiaa2's Veracity for convoluted story line of the year award. However, as a side note, my friend (I guess this person is sort of my Beta reader. I mean, what do you call the person who reads your stuff, makes suggestions, and you tell them to get stuffed?) told me the story really does have a plot, they can follow it quite easily, and I need to get over myself.

Karla: Rio De Janeiro!? Really!!!!? Tell me somethin'. Is it really as nice there as the pictures all say?

I'm glad you liked the ending of the last chapter. People seemed to like it overall. But I will say this in defense of poor Sirius. No, folks, he did not pass out at the end of the last chapter. That was just the way he saw things. Attribute his lack of feeling anything to an emotional short-circuit, if anything. Think of everything the poor man's been through. Your nerves and your brain can only take so much.

Thank you for not screaming at P.A.R..

I live in Florida, Dear. I know all about storms and power and phone outages. Don't have that emergency flash light plugged into the wall for nothing.

And by the way, I am giving you a lot of credit in this chapter. (And I gave you credit in the Author's Notes.) Your review of chapter seven raised a great many questions and legal issues I had not originally addressed in my first draft of this chapter. When I read your review I went over things again and incorporated answers into this chapter as best I could in the short time I had. But again, I thank you for making note of things that were not being properly addressed and bringing them to light. I hope I covered everything.

Oh, and have a gold star! 

And as you can see, you did make it by post time. I usually will check either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning one last time before I post.

Reviews are as of 09082002. Sorry if I missed anyone.

Remember,

to cats, you are just warm blooded furniture.

See you Wednesday, barring....well, you know. 


	10. Chapter Ten: In The Clear

A/N: I hope you all took a moment today to remember the thousands who were killed in the 9-11 attacks. And especially to remember the brave people on the plane that went down in Pennsylvania who gave their own lives rather than allow the terrorist cowards to kill many more people by crashing it into yet another building.

I had several Muslim friends at that time. I still do. Some of them were surprised the next day when I came up and talked to them. They believed I would no longer want to be friends with them, much less talk to them or be seen with them. But it was not the Muslim people did not carry out those attacks. From what I know of their religion, they are a very peaceful people who believe in many of the same basic doctrines my own religion teaches. Throughout the world there are many religions, but we all basically believe in one God, no matter what we call him.

The acts of 9-11 were carried out by terrorist extremists. And they do not represent the vast majority of the Muslim people.

Ummmm, that's pretty much all I have to say. 

Tried And Convicted

Chapter Ten: In The Clear

Sooner than anyone in the room could react, the Dementor grabbed hold of Harry and pulled the child to him. 

But before he could do more, the Dementor found itself suddenly set upon by a large, black dog that was all furious snapping jaws and teeth.

Sirius had reacted first to the Dementor grabbing his godson. He transformed even as he launched himself at the Dementor, driven on by his godson's renewed howls. 

Sirius didn't care what part of the Dementor he got a hold of, as long as he managed to grab something. He drove on into the black robes until he hit something solid. 

His godson's body safely under his chin, the dog opened it's mouth and bit down for all it was worth.

A scream of fear echoed through the corridor beyond as the Dementor dropped the child it was holding and tried to free itself from the creature attacking it. It twisted and shoved against the animal. But to no avail. The mass of black fur refused to let go.

The dog began to shake it's head. Twisting this way and that as it held onto it's prey, trying to tear at the flesh and open a wound. But to it's sudden disappointment, the dog realized there was no flesh to tear at. All he had was a mouth full of bunched up cloth. 

A sharp, abrupt pain in his back caused Padfoot to open his mouth with a yelp.

The Dementor took the opportunity to put at least some distance between it and it's attacker as it backed once again into the corner.

The large, black dog hit the ground, turning to face its new threat. But instead found itself facing a familiar friend, holding a wand pointed at him.

"Padfoot!" Remus yelled. "Sit! Stay!"

The dog gave Remus a very good rendition of a shocked look, which quickly turned to one of utter indignation. But another cry of distress caused the dog to turn its attention once more to the crying child. Harry was once more in Dumbledore's arms, although the child seemed to take no comfort from the fact at all and continued to cry louder and harder each time he opened his mouth.

The dog's ears quickly dropped at the wailing sound. Almost immediately, in its place a man in black robes suddenly appeared. 

As soon as Sirius had transformed back into himself, Harry fought his way once more out of Dumbledore's arms and made a beeline for his godfather. Still howling for all he was worth, he plunged into the safe cocoon of Sirius' robes and buried himself as deeply in the material as he could. 

A tight embrace and a few soft reassurances later the howling faded into heart-wrenching sobs as Sirius quickly began digging through the material for his godson.

"All right, Harry." He tried to sooth the small child as he pulled him free of his robes and into his arms. "Everything's all right now."

"Well, I'm not so sure about the Dementor." Remus commented.

The others turned to where the creature was laying on the floor near the corner, curled into a ball as it whimpered and moaned softly.

"What happened to it?" Snape asked as they watched several guards come in and take the Dementor out of the room.

Dumbledore waited until the guards had left the room before he answered Snape's question.

"Dementors generally only have contact with adults." He explained. "They rarely, if, in fact, ever, have contact with a child. Least of all one as young as Harry. Children can't really dwell on unpleasant memories in their lives because they don't view things the same as adults do. For a child of Harry's age, they generally tend to forget unpleasant events and simply move on with their lives. Dementors powers are much like spells. They rely on a certain grade of magic to force people to relive the worst moments of their lives. When the 'spell', if you like, had no where else to go, it backfired on the Dementor. My guess would be that he got a bit of a taste of his own work."

"But why did it attack Harry?" Remus asked, watching Sirius still trying to comfort his crying godson.

"It didn't." Dumbledore replied. "Dementors are blind. They attack their victims by feeling their emotions. All the Dementor could feel was happy emotions. It probably thought it was feeling the person it had had before. Sirius. It likely didn't even know Harry was inbetween them until it was too late."

"Is he going to be all right?" Sirius asked worriedly as he looked up from trying to comfort his still whimpering godson.

"He should be." Dumbledore replied. "Being touched by a Dementor isn't pleasant for adult or child. I suspect he's simply frightened. But we'll have Madam Pomfrey have a look at him when we get back to Hogwarts just the same."

Sirius looked up at the old wizard, his expression a mixture of hope and pleading.

"What's to happen to me?" He asked. "Do I have to stay here?"

Dumbledore smiled at the man, still protectively embracing the child in his arms. "Since I'm sure the ministry would want to avoid certain bits of information about your trial getting into the hands of any 'overzealous' Daily Prophet reporters, I believe that arrangements can be made for you to return to Hogwarts for the time being, Mr. Black." He said. "Until such time as the judges have had time to review your case."

The first genuine smile Sirius had felt in days lighted across his face. "I can leave?"

"As soon as you're ready."

Sirius looked back at the small cell with a slight shudder, then turned back to Dumbledore. "I've never been so ready to leave a place in my life."

A week later Sirius was in the infirmary at Hogwarts with a ministry justice worker and a judge standing at the foot of his bed. 

Sirius had insisted that he be allowed to take Veritaserum despite the effect it would have on him. He stated it was the only way to clear his name once and for all and, in part, for his own peace of mind. 

Due to the sudden resignation of its potions brewer, the members of the ministry had stipulated to Snape's brewing the Veritaserum and vouching for it's authenticity this time around. 

Sirius swore the man had made it 'extra strength' based on the intensity reaction.

The ministry worker ask Sirius a series of questions as the judge stood silently listening. Each question Sirus answered with the same dulled expression he had had when he answered the questions under the affects of the Cortulous Potion. But this time he didn't hesitate even once as he gave his answers. But his voice was more tired and unsteady than it had been the last time.

Once the ministry justice members had left, Madam Pomfrey immediately ushered everyone out of the infirmary and gave Sirius a sleeping potion, stating she would keep him under it's effects until the worst of the Veritaserum wore off.

Sirius didn't much seem to care what the school nurse was giving him. He swore if she had held out a cup and told him it was poison, he would have snatched it out of her hands and drained it to the past drop if it just made him feel better. And presently, to Sirius, 'dead' was equivalent to 'better'.

A week later Sirius was again beginning to take notice of the things around him. The first thing he was keenly aware of in his memory was his godson, who Remus was bringing for regular visits. The second thing he committed to memory was that he was never, as long as he lived, ever going to take Veritaserum again. Aside from how bad he felt even after a week under sedatives, it treated him to several days of regular visits from Snape as well, who ran constant checks alongside Madam Pomfrey's to make sure Sirius was recovering as expected from the Veritaserum.

But what got Sirius through the whole ordeal the most was good old Remus faithfully bringing Harry several times a day for a good long play session. After a few days Sirius was allowed out of his bed, which he immediately took advantage of when Remus next brought Harry, settling in for an extended play period on the floor with his godson.

As Sirius' condition improved steadily, Remus finally took to leaving Harry in his playpen next to Sirius' bed at night. Something he claimed did wonders for the child's sleeping through the night, not to mention his own ability to do so.

Finally, two weeks later Sirius was given a clean bill of health and allowed to leave the infirmary. With his name cleared, Sirius now turned his attention to other matters. No the least of which was, aside from raising his godson, what he was going to do with himself. Dumbledore quickly stepped in to offer a suggestion. Mentioning to Sirius that Professor McGonagall, in devoting more time to her Deputy-Headmistress duties, was looking for an assistant in teaching her Transfiguration classes. And with Sirius' background, Dumbledore thought he was the perfect choice, and Sirius promised to think about it.

His 'background' was another matter Sirius found himself having to now deal with. With his transformation in Azkaban when he attacked the Dementor, word of his animagi ability was no longer secret. And Sirius did little himself to keep them that way as that the officials at the ministry seemed all to happy to accept that as the explanation as to how he had managed to escape the jail in the first place, thereby effectively clearing Remus of any involvement. But it also meant that Sirius was now a 'registered' animagi, and the secret of his Padfoot persona was gone for good. Sirius soon found himself longing for those days as students who had never given the black dog a second look before, had now taken to patting him on the head and greeting him whenever he went about in his animagi form. Even Ms. Norris, who had seen him transform once by accident, no longer even paid him any mind. After a few weeks of that, Sirius was grateful for finally making the last transition back to a normal life. Moving back to Remus' with Harry.

Remus had been on a one track mind with parties since Sirius' release. He had arranged one the night Sirius came back to Hogwart's. Another when he was declared innocent after his answering the ministry questions under Veritaserum (though Sirius didn't remember that one very well), another when he left the hospital wing, and finally when he moved back into Remus' little cottage with Harry.

But despite Remus' constant happy praise that things were finally back to normal, Sirius knew things weren't completely settled for him. And that they wouldn't be until he took care of one last score.

And so with a firm resolve, Sirius found himself one night making his way down to the dungeons underneath the castle. He almost swore he could hear some sort of happy humming sound coming from Snape's private lab as he approached the large wooden door. But the sound stopped abruptly as soon as Sirius pounded on the door.

A very irritated looking Severus Snape yanked the door open, apparently ready to verbally abuse to tears whatever student had been foolish enough to disturb him outside of school hours. And the look didn't alter in the least when he realized his mistake.

"Black." Snape stated in a flat, curt tone. "What do you want? I'd have though you'd be at Lupin's at this time of night, playing with that abysmal little child."

"There's nothing 'abysmal' about Harry." Sirius replied following after the Potions Master as Snape stepped back into the room.

"I was referring to Lupin."

Sirius frowned slightly. When was the man going to stop taking shots at his one-time friend and simply admit that he missed him?

"Well?" Snape broke into Sirius' thoughts abruptly as he turned back to face him. "What is it you want, Black?"

Sirius paused as he stood facing the man. He had actually practiced what he wanted to say to him a hundred different times. But he never remembered it being so difficult. He quickly cleared his throat as he turned momentarily to the floor.

"Remus......told me what you did for me. All of it." Sirius answered in a voice that sounded still a little too formal. "And I realize, given our past, that there wasn't one reason in the world for you to help me. And yet still you did."

"Get to the point, Black." Snape stated impatiently. "There's a very strict time period to the simmering of the potion I'm working on and I won't have you destroying three hours worth of work."

Sirius sighed. So much for cordial gratitude. "I just wanted to say, 'Thank you'. For helping me." Sirius stated. "For.....for saving my life." He added quickly.

Snape stood perfectly still staring at the man before him. For a few moments Sirius wasn't sure if Snape was going to say anything at all.

"Is that it then?" Snape finally stated flatly in reply.

Sirius frowned slightly. Leave it to Snape to be a prat to the end. "Actually," Sirius added suddenly, "there was one more thing." If Snape was going to be less than gracious about accepting his thanks, he was going to get a question answered that was puzzling him for days now.

"The clock is ticking, Black. Get on with it." Snape answered, his tone growing more irritable by the moment.

"Remus said you told him that you knew for a fact I wasn't a Deatheater." Sirius ask.

"Yes?" Snape replied shortly.

"How did you know for sure?" Sirius questioned the man. "I mean, I admitted to it under Veritaserum before you all knew the truth about what I had been given. As far as anyone knew, Veritaserum was what I had been given. And yet Remus said you stated you knew for sure without any question. How?"

Snape gave the man standing before him a very tight, secretive, knowing smile. He then slowly reached down and carefully pulled the sleeve up from his robe, revealing the Dark Mark burned into his lower arm.

"Because I never see you at any of the meetings." Snape replied with the same knowing smile as he held the mark up for Sirius to see.

Sirius pulled back inadvertently at the sight of the mark on Snape's arm.

Snape was a Deatheater!?

But that couldn't be right. Dumbledore obviously trusted Snape. The man had, no matter how painful it was to admit it, saved his life. Why would he have bothered if he was a Deatheater? Sirius was an Auror. He had put a great many Deatheaters in Azkaban. To Snape, it would have seemed to have likely been a very satisfying revenge.

Or maybe the man was likely doing as he was told by Dumbledore. And seeing no way out, had simply complied when Dumbledore had asked for his help.

No, that wasn't right. Remus had said Snape had refused outright at first to help.

Maybe he was a spy for Voldemort, acting the part of the reformed Deatheater. Or maybe, like so many others, he was simply bidding his time, seeing what the dark lord's next move was.

Sirius slowly backed to the door, not missing the small smile on Snape's lips as he let the material slide back down over his arm.

"Was there anything else, Black?" Snape said suddenly, as though they had just finished discussing some trivial matter. "I do need to get back to my work."

Sirius paused, but finally just shook his head. For the life of him, he couldn't think of one thing to say to the man.

"Then do see yourself out." Snape stated.

Sirius turned towards the door. He stopped long enough to turn back to see Snape once again standing over a small smoking cauldron on the table, his attention fixed solely on the object before him and completely ignoring now the other occupant of the room.

Sirius paused briefly at the door, then hurried out it, shutting it behind him. Quickly ascending the stairs, Sirius turned his thoughts to more pleasant things. The fact that he was free. That his name was cleared. And that he had his godson with him.

And he believed Remus had said something about making stew for dinner.

Q&A

And so we come to the end of another P.A.R. story. I hope you enjoyed it. You, my readers, were, after all, responsible for it. 

My next story will be Enemies, which should appear sometime in October. P.A.R. is a little pressed on time and so I'm sorry, but there will be no more posts in September. *P.A.R. just manages to dodge a piece of fruit.* I SAID I WAS SORRY!

Geez!

And has anyone else heard anything in relation to the rumor Karla mentioned that the site is removing the Harry Potter category? I would like to hear if you know anything. I would be very surprised and very disappointed.

O.K., back to the Q&A.

Fever

Fairytale: Of course, Dear! I check my reviews on all my stories quite regularly.

Thank you for liking my little twist on the Severus-Remus thing. And no, P.A.R. does not write the slashy stories. Yet. But yes, poor Remus is in a very difficult position. But as Snape said, they both made their decisions. And if you like the relationship, good news. One, it's a constant running theme in all my stories. And two, I'm currently working on a story that lays out the whole foundation of their rather tenuous little relationship, as well as what ended(?) it. The story is called Proper Friends and should be out around Spring or Summer, 2003.

Actually, I'll tell you a little secret about that scene. I did originally write it as Sirius talking 'to' Dumbledore. But halfway through I took another look at it and thought it would be funny if he was just rehearsing it instead and was only talking to an empty chair. Hence, the final cut.

Dear, everyone seems to like Orion. And I don't know why either. That was, at least, until he showed up in the preview of Family Relations and took custody of Harry away from Sirius. Now I think he's sort of Public Enemy Number One. But Sirius has a very different opinion of his older brother in the story preceding that one, called Family Life, to which Family Relations is the sequel.

Ah, grammar and spelling errors. Yes, see the Bio page.

There's more to Harry's calling Remus 'Professor Lupin' still then just his being distant to him. You see, in almost every story I read where Remus shows up, he inevitably makes the comment, "Oh, please, Harry, call me Remus." If I see it one more time I swear sometimes I'll scream. So I swore never to use it in my stories unless I have no way around it.

Afraid? Dear, write them as long as you want! I love long reviews. Gives me something to read for a change.

As for your review of Tried And Convicted, I hope you don't mind my just adding it on here.

I think in an earlier review I mentioned my feelings on time-turners. Basically, it's been done. I hate to repeat. With so many entries being made every day to this category, I'm sure eventually I will repeat someone. But until then I will continue to strive to be as original as possible. Pretty good trick over-all when you're writing fan-fictions.

Actually, I rarely write cliffhangers. My chapters use to end pretty much on a level playing field, so to speak. Only recently did I learn about cliffhangers and how much 'fun' they were. And yes, I agree whole-heartedly, they are a wonderful tool for writers.

GERMANY! I'm being read in Germany? Heavens! Imagine.

Well, as you know by now, Fanfiction.net closed for 9/11 and did not come back up until late on 9/12. So I am trying to post today and we'll see what happens.

Don't O.D. on the coffee thing, Dear, O.K.? Too many of my readers seem to have a slight caffeine problem. Something about staying up late at night reading fan-fictions.

This story is ten chapters long, so this is the last chapter.

Tried And Convicted

Nagini: Well, Nagini, what can I say. First for the last chapter. Good for you!

Glad you liked the star. But know that I do not award for repeat performances.

I deserve not less but more? Thank you, Dear!

SOrry, P.A.R. is not currently writing the slashy stories. Yet. However, I would like to say, that if I ever do write one, I would like to very clearly state that I do NOT sail on the HP/DM ship. Sorry, Nagini. (But I'm a crew member in good standing on the other ship!)

2013? Giving yourself a bit of time there, aren't you, Dear?

I always wondered what the third line to the Meow Mix song was.

Drunken Sailor. P.A.R. was in the SCA. P.A.R. knows this song. P.A.R. knows MANY variations to this song as well.

Story sounds interesting, Dear. Any release date?

Congratulations again on being first last!

Nicky: Well, this is the last chapter. So, no more cliffhangers.

I kinda go with the breathing corpses philosophy. I mean, basically you have a body with no personality. (P.A.R. has dated a few of those.) It doesn't think, move, or do anything of it's own accord anymore. Basically, your brain dead. Your body just keeps going.

No. There was no reason why Harry got a field trip to Azkaban except to say that they didn't exactly have time to arrange for a babysitter. So pack the kid up and drag him along.

By the way, you came into my story looking for LOGIC? *P.A.R. laughs.* Silly, Nicky. Plots, yes, Dear. Not necessarily logical ones.

Sandrine Black: Well, actually, I don't have to love cliffhangers, just write 'em. But by heavens, I hope you guys do!!!!

I'll see if I can take a look at Bliss' stories.

RavenLady: Ohhhhh! Thank you for approving of my chapter division. And I do apologize for 'double cliffhanging' you guys.

Meesa Happy Java Mahn: Yeah. That now dat sound better, mahn.

Ohhhh! We be sorry, mahn! No. You not be forst. But doon worry. Be happy!

(Read de next line.) Oh! O.K.. We be vary pleased to tell you, YES, mahn! You be forst! Be happy! Have a Red Strip! Yay, beer!

Oh, mahn! Thank you for liking de title, mahn.

No. Not geev Sirius de Dementor Kiss. Dat be vary bad, mahn.

Oh, mahn! CANADA? Et cold der, mahn. P.A.R. has been to Canada, mahn. Know dis for a fact! (By de way, et be 96 degrees here today, mahn!)

O.K., you seet back, drink you Red Strip, watch sun go down, have nice day. O.K.? Dat's good, mahn.

Mayleesa: Good Girl! Back in your body and all!

Bad P.A.R.? Ohhhhh, come on. *Smiles.* You know you like the cliffhangers. Come on. Admit it. You like them. I know you do.

Hurt Harry? How can I do that? I need the kid to grow up and be in my sequels to Family Life.

Zimmy Russell: Breathe, Zim! BREATHE! Thank goodness!

P.A.R. works for an over-burdened, under-staffed government entity. Don't tell me about busy weeks, kiddo!

Never heard of the characters, Zim. But the last Star Wars anything P.A.R. saw was Return Of The Jedi.

OH, GREAT! Someone else threatening to kill me!? Wonderful! Oh. If I killed Sirius off. Ha! Fat chance of that, Whisp! (Go kick Zim a few times. You'll feel better.).

sweets: Naw. Bring the Citronella on down. Like I said, the mosquitoes love it and I'm almost out.

You'll take you're chances, huh? I have just three little words for you, sweets. West. Nile. Virus.

Glad you were pleased with Sirius' rescue. And although SNape did have his wand 'pointed' at the Dementor, he was busy talking to Sirius, Lupin, and Dumbledore. All of who were to his right and behind him, therefore putting the Dementor out of his line of sight.

The question of what happens when a Dementor touches a child under a certain age is answered in this chapter. Dementors rely on a conscious participation to be effective on their victim. Children simply don't have that level of memory developed. Or, as Dumbledore explained, they don't dwell on bad memories.

Storyspindler: Good heavens! Sorry about that!

Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!

Sorry, voting polls are closed. Poor little Dementor went hungry this time.

UnrepentantReader: I don't know that Severus was suffering by being there to help Sirius. But it was definitely interfering with his day-planner, I'm sure.

Trennerson will likely be back. He's a good side character for Snape, I think. One of the main reasons he wasn't killed off outright in this story.

Actually, if you don't mind a little return reviewing, your reviews are very well thought out and structured and written in such a way that I would very much enjoy reading a story from you. I can only imagine it would be worth the read. Just from your reviews, you already seem to have a very strong 'voice' which has remained very consistent. Your writing style seems structurally very good and you do tend to get right to the point. I think you are doing yourself a dis-service by not giving writing a try. Although I would think that would require you to change your name from Unrepentant'Reader'.

purple water: Ya' know, purple water, I do hope you are going to give Enemies a read. And I say that with a certain amount of trepidation. But if nothing else, I could be sure if nothing else, the review was completely honest.

Apples? *P.A.R. cringes.* Try to repair one! That's truly frightening.

Did Sirius answer any of the questions truthfully? To my knowledge, he didn't. At least not in the courtroom. And he was fighting it at the time. So it wasn't completely effective. Oh, look! A loophole! *P.A.R. quickly jumps through it.* But it was nine chapters ago. Memories a bit rusty. (And I wrote the thing, for heaven's sake!)

Yeah, I could use operating in Snape's time zone a few days a week myself.

Poor Katlin. I did say she was operating on a short report budget. I mean, she did get her information from the other Deatheaters, after all. Had she gotten the information from the Elites, things would probably have gone better.

Wand. Wand. Wand. *P.A.R. thinks for a minute.* By Heavens! You're right.

Most guys aren't that shallow? Where, Dear? P.A.R. sure ain't dating them. Can't find them either. And it's not so much that she was relying on seduction to make her plan work. That was just icing on the cake. Her main focus was to get Sirius thinking along the lines that he could keep Harry and raise him, which she eluded the ministry would never let him do. She was on the right train. She just didn't get to ride it all the way into the station.

What can I say? Characters. You either like 'em or you don't. But I do think you're basing your opinion on some rather scant evidence as well.

Why, WHY did I know you of all people would bring this up!? O.K., let me start by saying I am the first person to stick my hand up in the air and say this was poorly worded. I freely admit that. Now, try seeing it this way;

The spell (Veritaserum-for potions are spells in a way) is countered by something (the Cortulous Potion) that is suppose to make the person do (lie) what they are already being compelled to do (lie).

In other words, they're being asked, under a supposed truth serum to lie, when they are actually under another potion that already is making them lie. You're being asked to lie about a lie. Think about it. 

But, granted, I should have said 'potion' instead of 'spell'.

Sailor Sol: I...........I MISSED you!?

P.A.R. is most seriously sorry!

Sure enough! I did! How did that happen? And such a nice review too. Bad P.A.R.! Bad, bad, bad.

Well, Dumbledore didn't show up with a Patronus. Didn't honestly even think of that. Not a bad idea, though.

I hope things without your friend around aren't too bad. Although I'm not sure about calling at 3AM.

I'm glad I kept your mind busy for a little while. Unfortunately, last chapter.

Again, sorry, sorry, sorry.

vmr: Thank you.

Dark Whispers; Glad you liked the cliffhanger. Thanks for the reviews.

summersun: I may do cliffhangers, but look on the bright side of life, Brian (Little Monty Python there), I update regularly.

Have you ever had a kid crawling around you? After even a few hours of this, you tend not to worry too much where they are or what they're doing. As long as you can feel them still. And Harry never let go of Sirius' robe. So Sirius assumed he was still near him and safe.

Now would I let the Dementor have poor little Harry?

Eva Phoenix Potter: Oh, great. Now I'm accused of being evil. Really, people, I'm a nice author. I think the last chapter proves that.

Don't be so hard on yourself with the writing thing, Dear. I've been at it for nearly three decades. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of practice. And my editor still insists I could use a little more.

Unicorn Whisperer: Loff? Loff. Loff Loff. Yeah. P.A.R. thinks she likes that word. Will use it somewhere.

You want something to ponder? P.A.R. does not like children at all.

No. No sacrifice. (Or in this case, 'animal' sacrifice. (Oh! Look! P.A.R. made a little funny!)

Padfoot plushie? *Wah!* P.A.R. wants a padfoot plushie!!!!!! Where are you guys getting these things?

No, Dear. I have not lost all respect for you. For to do so would be to have to lose all respect for myself. 'nough said.

In closing, good old Sirius (Padfoot).

Silverfox: I'm not saying Fudge didn't care about the case, just not it's outcome past what he was told it would be. I mean, he is Minister of Magic. He would likely be kept well appraised of something like this.

I just assumed that there would have to be some human guards in Azkaban to watch the Dementors. If not, wouldn't the Dementors tend to decide one day to have a soul-sucking party and just be done with it?

Why have the effect turned on while searching a train full of children? I'm not sure what your asking here? If just a straight out 'why are they doing that?' - what can I say? Smorgasbord! If why keep the effect turned on when on board a train full of children if they aren't suppose to effect children? The kids on the train were all older than Harry in Tried And Convicted and could be effected by the Dementors. And as I recall, it did get them into trouble.

I don't think Dementors are the brightest color in the crayon box.

Arania: No, Dear. One more chapter.

AU. OOC. Same thing.

The answer to why Harry isn't effected so much by the presence of the Dementor is two fold. One, the Dementor has his power turned 'off' at the moment. If you'll recall in Chapter Nine, Harry 'mentioned' the dementor was starting to 'give him a strange, unsettled feeling'. That was 'the engine warming up', so to speak. Everyone else in the room was either confused, shocked, or neutral. (Well, except Remus. But happy is sort of his 'norm', isn't it?). Harry is 'happy' and the Dementor smells lunch. Two is answered in this chapter.

Oh, I do 'ship', Dear. I proudly sail on the good ship 'Sirius and Arabella'. But true, not in this story.

Oh, dear heavens! You know Zim?

Karla: KARLA! Where did you hear that awful rumor, girl!? Surely that can not be true. Fanfiction.net put up their changes today and they did not mention anything about removing the Harry Potter category in it. However, should this horrible rumor come to pass, I will be moving to Sugarquill (as soon as they find a new home) and FictionAlley straight away and continuing under those sites. And regardless, you may see me there soon anyway. 

And although we all know I 'never' read in the NC-17 category, and though I will miss any category the site chooses to take out, here I must applaud the decision. This category (Harry Potter, not NC-17) is highly visited by kids looking for stories about Harry Potter to read. Some of those were so inappropriate even I was utterly shocked at what people can come up with. I have a young niece who is, as far as I'm concerned, the Harry Potter champion of the world in trivia. This kid can answer any question on Harry Potter. I would love to show her this site and say 'Looky at what your Auntie P.A.R. does in her spare time.' But for all the NC-17 entries, I don't dare. I felt that her reading anything of that nature would spoil the joyful innocence in which she views this wonderful series of stories. *Climbs down off soapbox.* O.K., I'm done.

My e-mail, Dear, was blitzed off by the site keepers for some unknown reason. I have not yet set it back up under a new type. (I was using the experimental one, which was removed.) Unfortunately, anything e-mailed to me goes heaven only knows where. So, very sadly for P.A.R., no, I did not see your review. Can you try again and post it here? 

Reviews are as of 09122002. Sorry if you were missed. See you guys in October, hopefully.

Remember...........9-11-2001.


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